


Waters of Rejuvenation

by KnightA3



Category: Xiaolin Showdown (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Violence, mild ship tease
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-18
Updated: 2015-11-06
Packaged: 2018-04-21 08:15:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 23,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4821818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KnightA3/pseuds/KnightA3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I have this posted on fanfiction as well. Under the name "xhidden-shadowsx", if anyone is curious. It's relatively old (2013-2014) and I hope to rewrite it eventually to make it better. Even so, I think it's still decent enough.</p>
    </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I have this posted on fanfiction as well. Under the name "xhidden-shadowsx", if anyone is curious. It's relatively old (2013-2014) and I hope to rewrite it eventually to make it better. Even so, I think it's still decent enough.

_ Breath was a luxury when there was no air to breathe. With none of it within reach, Raimundo found he desired it more than he had ever realized when he still had it readily available. Only now did he realize he had taken it for granted his entire life, not truly appreciating what was and what it did for him. _

_ The weight of the water was crushing any oxygen he managed to retain up until that point. Despite how far away the air he needed seemed to be, he tried to reach for it. Kicking himself to the surface proved futile when his legs wouldn't respond, and any other method of swimming to the surface was met with the same results. The most his body would do was a periodically odd twitch. _

_ Slowly sinking lowering into the depths of the sea, he came to the realization that he was actually going to die. Raimundo had never feared anything before, as he defiantly insisted almost daily, but the fear that he would die hit him like a club and rattled him to the bones. If he hadn't been submerged in the salty water, tears would have stung his eyes and lined his cheeks. _

_ He desperately called for help, but only bubbles of air escaped his narrowly open mouth. Even if the water would allow him to call for help, words would not be able to form from his paralyzed lips. His lungs began to strain from the lack of life-sustaining air they needed and consciousness began to flee as black dots scattered across his vision. _

_ The last thing he remembered before finding himself in his predicament was falling off the safety of the boat and into the water. He didn't try hard to remember how he had fallen off because it no longer mattered. He was positive a painful and lonely death was the only future he had left. For it seemed as if the moment Raimundo hit the water, he was unable to move as pain shot agonizingly through his body, hindering his ability to escape from death. _

_ He had his share of close calls in the eight years of his life, but the feeling of invincibility had always been there to guide him through undeterred. In those moments his short life flashed before his eyes, he had never felt so unfulfilled and empty, as if his life wasn't yet complete and this was a mere trial to pave the way to greatness. But that was ridiculous; he could not imagine any way to escape his current predicament. _

_ Up on the deck of the ship, its form blurred due to the distortion of the water, he saw a crowd quickly grow and worriedly look down at him. The form of one crowd member dove into the water after him without hesitation, the desire to protect his son overriding the possible dangers. As he continued to sink further into the depths, Raimundo could see the form of a Portuguese Man 'o War innocently drift past.   
_

oOoOo

  


Raimundo woke and shot up with a start. Heart racing, he looked back and forth, almost expecting the same white walls and sterile scent of the hospital room he had woken up in after that day. The memory of his terrible eighth birthday, though it happened exactly eight years before, haunted him every year on the same day that it happened.

He may have overcome his fear of not being good enough to be a leader when  Hannible  Bean invaded his mind, but his fear of the stinging creature was the embodiment of another—the fear of dying. Despite that, he'd continued to take risks that could kill him because he'd shoved the fear into things such as the Man 'o War and jellyfish as if the stinging creatures were the only things that could rob him of life.

Glancing at the clock in his room—which resembled a personalized stall rather than a room— he found that it was nearly the standard temple wake-up time, and normally too early for him to be willingly getting up. Despite his efforts to be more responsible, he couldn't seem to manage waking up on time, so one of the other three Xiaolin Dragons in training should be arriving soon to drag the Shoku Warrior out of  the  mat  doubling as his  bed.

Preferring to get up rather than revisit the nightmare, the Dragon of Wind got up and removed his pajama shirt, which revealed the angry scars along the lower right side of his back from his encounter with the stinging creature in this dream, and clad himself in his Shoku temple robes.

Still tired and rubbing sleep from his eyes when Omi appeared within the sorry excuse for a room, Raimundo leapt back in surprise with a shout and crashed into the rarely used surfboard behind him. Picking himself up from the mess he just made and mentally promising himself he'd clean it up later, he swiftly glared at the smaller monk.

"Omi! You're supposed to knock or something before waltzing in like you own the place!" The annoyed Brazilian exclaimed.

"I did not anticipate you being a morning bird today," Omi explained as if it were a plausible excuse, however true it was.

The Brazilian grumbled something about "the early bird catching the worm" in his native language of Portuguese that the younger monk—who knew ancient Chinese, modern Chinese, and English(not so much of the cowboy variety)—could not understand.

"Now that you are already up-and-Steve, it is time for our morning meal!" Omi informed in his usual egotistical manner and headed out to the dining room.

"At 'em," Raimundo corrected, lazily following behind.

After pausing to glancing back and forth as if looking for something, Omi asked, "Who is Adam?"

" Never mind ."

Omi paid the mysterious "Adam" no second thought and continued leading his leader to the dining area where the rest of the team was eating breakfast. Clay was hidden behind his massive pile of flapjacks as he inhaled them two at a time while Kimiko settled for her modest number of calories. Their mystical dragon, Dojo, noisily gobbled up at least five times his own weight in pancakes as if to challenge Clay's appetite. Finally, Omi claimed his respective seat and piled a couple pancakes for himself.

Sighing, Raimundo picked Dojo out of the seat unclaimed by the other three Dragons in training, ignoring any complaints from the  mystical  creature. And as the meal progressed, and usual breakfast conversations persisted, Master Fung approached the chosen ones with a battered box in hand. The ever curious Dragon of Water stood on his toes to see what the package was with the hope it was something specially for him.

"A package has arrived for you, Raimundo," The elder monk alerted, placing the box on the table next to the mail recipient.

Giving the box a quick glance over and  hasitly  removing an envelope taped to the top, he replied, "Just on time. Thanks, Master Fung."

"What is it?" Omi asked curiously. The question went unanswered by the Brazilian.

Clay asked, "Who's it from?"

Raimundo responded, without looking at the return address to check, "My family in Brazil."

In his effort to discover the mysterious contents of the package, Omi placed himself uncomfortably close to Raimundo. As he tried to lift the corner up to peek inside, he impatiently repeated, "What is it?"

"None of your business," Raimundo informed, a hint of annoyance tugging at his tone, as he pushed the bald monk away, interrupting the fervent investigation.

Before any further inquiry of the package could be conducted, the Pedrosa picked up the box with the envelope that came with it still in hand and took it to his room-more accurately referred to as a personalized stall. With the Dragon of Wind gone, the other three monks looked at each other, all curious as to what could be within the confines of the package that could cause the leader to be so secretive about it.

"Any idea why he was being so defensive about his beat-up box?" Kimiko asked.

Clay responded with a shrug, "Whatever it is, we've got no reason to go  invadin'  his privacy."

"You can't possibly be saying you don't want to check it out."

"Not at all, I'm just sayin' that curiosity killed the cat."

With a gentle smirk that didn't distort her petite features, Kimiko retorted before Omi could mourn the death of the metaphorical feline, "Yeah, the cat who got caught. So let's not get caught."

"I'm not so sure about that plan. Sounds like a mighty fine way to jump out of the  fryin'  pan and right into the fire."

"In case you forgot, I'm the Xiaolin Dragon of Fire." Kimiko reminded, and then quietly added, "In training."

Clay, persistent to respect his fellow teammates, responded, "If you're plum set on it, I'm not gonna stop you."

The noble ways of the cowboy tugging at her guilt strings, she caved, "Fine, fine. You win."

 oOoOo   


Back in his personalized stall, Raimundo sat on his mat-which he still wanted to trade for a bed- with the box set in front on him. After staring at it intently for a moment, he turned his attention to the envelope that came with the package. Carefully tearing the envelope to avoid ripping the card inside, he read the Portuguese silently,  _ Happy 16th Birthday Rai! We hope you enjoy what we got you! With love from: Mom, Marco, Thays, Sophia, Bianca, Antonio, Lucas, Juliana, and Miguel! P.S. Send more pictures." _ Each name was signed by the person who owned it, the contrasting handwriting styles scattering the paper in a variety of ways.

Placing the card down on his pillow and proceeding to the box, he cut the tape that sealed it closed. Noting the battered condition of the box, he muttered to himself, "Behold the great Brazilian mail system's finesse. Everything will always come to you broken."

Peering inside, he found more than one gift. He pulled out a new  IPod  to replace the one Omi soaked two months before, a new soccer ball to replace the one who met it's end when Clay kicked a little too hard, and a camera. The camera came with a note to send them more pictures of him, his friends, and the places he visits. No doubt the camera was meant to encourage him to send them more pictures. Though the presents were nothing spectacular, it was a nice upside to his day.

He stashed the box in the chest at the head of his mat and with the birthday present out of the way, Raimundo went back out for daily training with the other three monks. Starting with the morning meditation that had been moved after breakfast when, within days of their first arrival approximately three years previous, Clay's stomach complained about waiting any longer for the most important meal of the day and insisted on interrupting the time of peace.

Meditation had been as boring as every other morning until Dojo came shuddering spasmodically through the doorway, shouting, "Shen Gon Wu alert! We've got a live one!"

Their unceasing quest for the Shen  Gon  Wu was always a welcome interruption to the boring art of sleeping as they sat in a meditative position. The four Dragons in training promptly leapt to their feet, asking the usual questions about what the Wu was and what it did as they surrounded the twitching dragon in anticipation.

In reply, Dojo pulled out the mystical scroll of the Shen  Gon  Wu and read the name printed at the top. "The Waters of Rejuvenation. It can heal any wound, pain, or affliction." On the scroll, the image of a person with a broken arm poured water out of a teapot onto himself and was instantly healed. "It could be useful for the rash that's beginning to blister on my tail."

The dragon held out his tail for everyone to see, which elicited Kimiko to complain, "Please put that thing away. It's not something I want reappearing in my nightmares."

"So where are the Waters of Rejuvenation located?" Omi asked, eager to retrieve the Shen  Gon  Wu before it could fall into the wrong hands.

Dojo tapped his chin in thought for a moment before answering, "If I'm remembering right… somewhere in Brazil. The rainforest, I think."

As Raimundo, Clay, and Omi went to the vault for Shen Gon Wu to take with them, Kimiko used the cover of taking an extra-long time to do her makeup to snoop around in Raimundo's stuff. Though Clay had convinced her not to, when the temptation arose again, she could not bite back her curiosity. To console herself, she insisted that it was merely payback for the times he had played pranks on her.

Her first stop was the chest at the head of the mat identical to the ones she, Clay, and Omi had as well. She spotted the battered box and lifted the flap to peek inside, unimpressed to find the three objects held within it.

"What was the big deal about these?" She muttered to herself; giving the soccer ball a poke and browsing through the camera's empty memory, she failed to understand why Raimundo acted the way he had earlier.

As she was about to leave, disappointed, she spotted an envelope laying on the pillow, remembering see had spotted it taped to the top of the box. Also recalling that he had immediately removed the envelope, almost suspiciously, she quickly looked at the card. Annoyed that she couldn't read Portuguese, she prepared an online translator on her PDA and entered in what she saw. Her eyes widened in shock when she read the message written on the card.

"I can't believe he never told us!" She mumbled, and then added to herself, "I can't believe I never wondered. The others will want to know this."

After putting everything back where she found it, she hurried to the vault to claim the Shen  Gon  Wu she wanted to take with her. Thankfully, Raimundo didn't suspect a thing.

_ Point one goes to the curious cat, _ She thought, relieved. Now she just had to find the opportune moment to tell the others what she learned, and maybe find out why Raimundo didn't tell them. If all went well, she may be able to weed it out of the secretive Shoku Warrior.

oOoOo   


Aboard Dojo's back as usual, they approached the large city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Raimundo looked at it with admiration, the beauty of his city never ceasing to amaze him. Seeing it from an aerial view was a new experience for him, and he soaked in the spectacular sight and committed it to memory, wishing he had thought to bring his new camera.

"That's odd," Dojo began, "I could've sworn I hid the Waters of Rejuvenation in the Rain Forest farther north."

"Who cares? It's here now and I'm not complaining," Raimundo cut in.

"Maybe while we're here we can meet your family, Rai," Kimiko suggested with an innocent smile, as if she didn't know what that day was. "I mean, today is a special day; isn't it?"

"Oh yes! That would be most wondrous!" Omi agreed.

The Brazilian hesitated before slowly answering, "You sure? I mean, it's a big family and they're not exactly—"

"Why not? We've met my family, and Kimiko's  pa , so why not yours?" Clay supported.

"I'd prefer if you didn't refer to my dad as 'pa.' It sounds weird," Kimiko voiced.

"Maybe if we have time," Raimundo answered. Kimiko was positive he looked nervous about it.

Dojo touched down into an area of tightly packed buildings on a hillside that appeared to be stacked and squeezed together randomly. Shrinking down to his smaller size, the dragon exclaimed, "My Dojo senses say the Wu is… this way!" He pointed straight ahead of them before changing his mind, pointing left then right, "No, this way! No, wait, wait, this way!"

"Is something wrong with your Dojo senses?" Raimundo quipped. "I have a feeling we'll be searching for the Wu on our own."

"There's too many weird smells around here, I can't pinpoint a direction," Dojo admitted.

"That might be because you landed us in the _favelas_ ," The Shoku warrior pointed out. "What you smell is trash."

"Let's pretend I don't know what favelas are," Dojo suggested.

Raimundo sighed and clarified, "The slums, the bad side of Rio, whatever you want to call it.  _ Jacarezinho _  is not exactly the best place to be."

"Right, I knew that."

Clay said to Dojo, giving him a light pat on the head, "Sure you did, little buddy."

The little dragon defensively put his hands to his hips, if he had hips, and defended, "I did!"

Not keen on the idea of being caught up in any drug dealing or violence within the favela called  _ Jacarezinho , _  Raimundo led them to more a more favorable area called,  _ Méier . _  They looked around for anything that could be the Shen  Gon  Wu they were looking for, but came up short. Many teapots had been spotted, but Omi tested and confirmed that none of them were the Waters of Rejuvenation.

Frustrated and exhausted, the four monks sat down to take a break from their fruitless search. Watching all the people walk past, Raimundo found he wasn't very surprised when he spotted a familiar face among them. Deciding they could use any help they could get, Raimundo stood up and caught up with the 11-year old boy he found. His fellow monks, though confused, quickly followed suit.

_ "Yo! Antonio, buddy! Did you miss me?" _ Raimundo greeted the boy in Portuguese with messy black hair adorned with light curls.

Unable to understand what their leader had just said, Kimiko turned to the others and asked, "Do any of you three speak Brazilian?"

"I speak a little Spanish, but I didn't catch any of that," Clay responded unhelpfully. Besides, he really only knew how to ask for a large steak.

Kimiko asked, "Dojo?"

"I used to know some, but I'm just a bit too rusty to remember anything helpful."

"So what do you know?"

Counting on his fingers, Dojo answered, "Food, Bathroom, and some dirty words I really shouldn't tell you."

The boy, Antonio, turned around with his green eyes widening in near disbelief. Seeing Raimundo's face, he exclaimed,  _ "Rai!" _ Before Raimundo could react, Antonio wrapped his arms around him in a hug and continued,  _ "You're back!" _   


_ "I'd say you missed me."   _ Raimundo decided. Ruffling Antonio's black hair, Raimundo inquired asked,  _ "So how has everyone been?" _

_ "Okay, I guess. Sophia caught Dengue a couple weeks ago, but Marco says she's fine now. And Lucas still thinks you promised to give him your medallion." _

Folding his arms and defending his ownership of the medallion, Raimundo said, _ "Come on, man! I never promised him that." _   


_ Yeah, yeah, whatever," _ Antonio waved his hands dismissively, and then pointed to the clueless listeners Raimundo had brought with him, " _ So who are they?" _   


  _"These are my friends from the Xiaolin Temple,"_ Raimundo proceeded to introduce each one of them,  "Kimiko, Clay, Dojo, and Omi."   


Able to understand their names upon being introduced, Kimiko waved, Clay tipped his hat, Dojo grinned and waved, and Omi said, "I am pleased to meet you, as you should be even more pleased to meet me."

Antonio turned to Raimundo for a moment and asked, jabbing a thumb in the bald monk's direction, _ "Is he serious?" _

_ "Yeah, it's just how he is. It frustrates me all the time." _

_ "I can imagine." _   


Interrupting the two Brazilians' conversation, Clay said, "Rai, mind filling us in a bit there partner?"

"Oh, right," Raimundo said in English, a language they could all understand. "Guys, this is Antonio, one of my little brothers."

Omi raised an eyebrow and asked, "One?"

"I mentioned that I have eight brothers and sisters. There's Marco, Thays, Sophia, Bianca, Me, Antonio, and then the triplets Lucas, Juliana, and Miguel."

"Your family is quite large," Omi observed, impressed.

"Yeah, now back to business," Raimundo changed the subject and turned to his younger brother, "Antonio, I need your help. We're looking for one of those Shen Gon Wu things I told you about and we're having trouble. It's called the Waters of Rejuvenation and looks like a teapot. Does that ring any bells to you?"

Antonio thought for a moment before saying, "You know Jon, right? He came running over the other week completely missing his arm!"

"Might want to get a doctor to look at that," Dojo interrupted.

Antonio continued, "He said he found a weird cave near the Christ Statue and went exploring in it and said he found a teapot on a pedestal. Does that sound like what you're looking for?"

"Sounds like a mighty big possibility," Clay mused.

"Where's Jon now?"

"At home. Marco is helping him out."

Turning to his friends, Raimundo said, "Well, it looks like you get to meet my family after all."

Mentally pumping her fist into the air in success, Kimiko and the others followed the brothers to their home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so it's clear, italicized words usually means their either dreaming, thinking, or speaking in a different language.
> 
> So I could accurately predict what jellyfish was Raimundo's fear, I googled it. The Portuguese Man O' War isn't really a jellyfish, but a colony (close enough to it though, I guess. But that's not important). I decided it was a Man O' War after learning they drift to plenty of places in the world and comparing a picture of it to that of the jellyfish that appears in the show. I decided it looks more like a Man O' War than any jellyfish I could find.
> 
> I'm no expert on Brazilian culture or anything about it, but while my brother lived there(in Rio too), he sent us a package and it was all beat-up and battered. He said that was standard Brazilian packaging, so I applied it here. I'm just using what I know. And, "Thays" is pronounced more like "Ty-ese" because there's no th sound in Portuguese.


	2. Chapter 2

The ground crunched underneath the monks' feet as Raimundo and Antonio led them through the city of Rio de Janiero. Looking at the building that served as the Pedrosa family's home, it wasn't particularly large, but wasn't very small either. Omi, Clay, and Kimiko all briefly wondered about the wall that surrounded the house with only one gate that served as an entrance to the property.

Passing the gate, they approached the front door and Antonio turned the knob, only to tug at the door without a desirable result. Grumbling, he tried again and the door remained closed.

Groaning and turning to Raimundo, Antonio said, "Lucas must have locked it again."

"He still does that?" Raimundo inquired and his younger brother replied with a nod.

Giving up on trying to open the locked door without having any keys on his person, Antonio pounded on the door shouting in Portuguese,  _"Lucas! Open the door!"_

A reply came from the other side of the door, saying, " _What's the password?"_

While the other monks and Dojo had no idea what was being conversed, both Raimundo and Antonio grew increasingly frustrated and annoyed. As the conversation progressed, Antonio seethed, " _Open the door!"_

_"Nope."_

_"Lucas, open the door before I open it myself,"_ Raimundo cut in evenly, taking matters into his own hands.

There was a brief pause while even the air seemed to hold its breath in anticipation. Finally, after a few distinct clicks from the lock, the door creaked open and a head of curly brown hair peeked out at them silently and stared at Raimundo for a moment and muttered,  _"No way,"_ before shouting angrily,  _"Rai, you Jerk!"_

Antonio stepped aside as Lucas stepped forward and grabbed Raimundo by the shirt, as if to appear threatening. The older Brazilian merely rolled his eyes at the eight year old boy. He began to pry Lucas's hands off his shirt as he began,  _"Dude, I never promised to-"_

Raimundo was suddenly interrupted by a young girl leaping up and tackling him as she shouted his name with glee. In response, both Lucas and Raimundo shouted in surprise, "Juliana!" Kimiko flinched, Clay mildly grimaced, Dojo flinched as well as grimaced, and Omi blinked as Raimundo fell to the ground with Juliana on top of him and Lucas laughed mockingly.

Omi commented, "I don't think even my tiger instincts could have seen that coming."

The two fallen siblings picked themselves up from the ground and brushed themselves off while Lucas was unable to prevent tears from springing to his eyes as he laughed. Not even a glare from Raimundo was enough to cause his harsh laughter to cease.

The Shoku Warrior stood in the doorway as he introduced to his friends, "These two are Lucas and Juliana." Pausing, Raimundo peeking inside and continued, "And Miguel is hiding over there." Raimundo disappeared for a moment as he retrieved Miguel and added, "These three are the triplets."

The monks introduced themselves, but Lucas's laughter still loudly persisted, Juliana was excitedly trying to tell everyone about something, and Miguel hovered as close to Raimundo as he could and refused to meet their gaze. The monks glanced at their leader, who just shrugged as if he had tried to warn them.

Raimundo waved them inside and Omi, Kimiko, Clay, and Dojo obliged, followed by Antonio. But despite Raimundo's efforts, they were soon spotted by his mother, Rosa Pedrosa.

_"Raimundo? Why didn't you tell me you were coming to visit today? I would have given you your presents personally rather than mail them,"_ she greeted happily, ecstatic to see him. Then, as if suddenly realizing how much he had changed in the three years he was gone at the Xiaolin Temple, she pinched his cheeks and exclaimed,  _"Oh! Look at my little Rai, he's gone and grown so big! Sixteen today!"_

"Looks like someone's mommy missed him," Dojo whispered jokingly, eliciting snickers from Omi, and Kimiko.

Stifling a mild chuckle, Clay said, "I think it's sweeter than my grandma's apple pie."

_"Mom…"_ Raimundo begged, prying her hands from his face.

Seeing his snickering friends behind him, she suddenly said,  _"Are these the friends you told us about?"_

"Yeah," he answered, switching to English. "But we're in a hurry. We need to talk to Jon."

"Oh, really? He's in the other room with Marco." She pointed them the correct direction, though Raimundo already knew where to go.

"Yeah, yeah, thanks." Raimundo quickly escaped and lead his friends to the correct room.

As they passed, Clay tipped his hat to Rosa and said in his typical cowboy fashion, "It was a pleasure to meet you ma'am."

Entering the correct room, Omi, Kimiko, Clay, and Dojo were surprised to find it stunningly resembled a doctor's office. A man, approximately 28 years old, sat typing at a computer. Sitting on the examination table was a teen a couple years older than Raimundo. They quickly assumed it was Jon, since he was missing his right arm just below the elbow. What was left of it was heavily bandaged.

"Marco, Jon, how's it going?" Raimundo greeted in English. Both inhabitants of the room looked to see the newcomers entering the room.

"Rai, I didn't expect to see you here today," Marco replied casually, as if seeing Raimundo in his office wasn't a strange sight.

"Nice to know my older brother still cares about me," Raimundo sarcastically replied.

Jon piped up, "Rai, long time no see. I would've gotten you something if you had given us a heads up that you were coming."

"It was kind of a last minute thing," Rai explained briefly, and then continued, "Listen, we're actually looking for something and we need your help."

Perplexed, Jon asked, "Me? Help you? You're the mystical dragon monks or whatever, besides I'm not very helpful with only one arm."

Omi, deciding he'd had enough being silent, cut in, "But you can be very helpful. If you could lead us to the Waters of Rejuvenation we would be very much helped."

However, Jon was only confused further. "Wait, water of what-now?"

Kimiko jumped in to clarify, "We're looking for an object called the Waters of Rejuvenation, which looks sort of like a teapot. Antonio told us you found something like that, and we were hoping you could help us out by giving us more info or leading us to it."

"You mean that teapot the crazy guy cut my arm off for?" Jon replied. "No offense, but it's not something I'd like to go back and revisit."

"We just need to be taken to the entrance, and then you're done," the Japanese girl assured him.

"It is urgent to the safety of the world!" Omi exclaimed, slapping on the pressure.

"First, I'd like some details on what exactly happened there," Raimundo pressed.

"Alright, alright," Jon conceded. "I was going up to the Christ statue a couple weeks ago, but saw something that looked like a cave and decided it would be cool to check it out. When I got there, it was too dark to go in very far without a flashlight, so I went home and came back a few days later with one.

"It started off looking like a normal cave, I guess. But I started to notice that it didn't look natural because the walls were perfectly smooth. I thought it was weird, but didn't think much of it beyond that. Pretty far in, I spotted a pedestal with, of all things, a teapot displayed on it. I picked it up but didn't see anything special about it. But as I was setting it down, some weirdo walked in and started yelling at me. He pulled out a sword— that I didn't realized he had— yelled something, and chopped my arm off before I could do anything.

"I didn't even bother to pick up the flashlight that I had been holding in my right hand and just bolted out in the dark was fast as I could. Once I got out of the cave, it didn't seem like he had followed me, so I stopped and made a tourniquet for my arm and came running here because I knew Marco was a doctor."

Once Jon finished telling his story, Clay said, "And that's it?"

"That's it," Jon confirmed. "Worst part is that I'm right-handed. Now I'm wishing I was left-handed like Marco."

"So, would you be willing to show us where this cave is?" Raimundo asked.

"Alright, but I'm not going in," Jon relented.

"Fair enough."

* * *

On Dojo's back and flying high above the beautiful city of Rio de Janeiro, Jon clung to the nearest unfortunate person around the neck-who happened to be Clay-for dear life. The cowboy struggled to keep Jon from choking him, with limited success.

"I know I've never cared much about seat belts, but why doesn't this thing have any?!" The one-armed boy shouted.

"Don't worry, you should stay on as fit as a button if you don't squirm around too much," Clay assured him.

"Wait, what does that mean?" Jon asked, unfamiliar with Clay's cowboy speech.

"It means hold still," Dojo clarified, then added, "And I'm not a 'thing'! I am a 1500 year old mystical dragon, thank you very much."

"Whatever. This is still insane."

Changing the subject back to the search for the Shen Gon Wu, Dojo said, "Now, where is this cave of yours?"

Still limiting Clay's ability to breathe, Jon directed, "Go to the side of the mountain to Christ's right."

Following Jon's directions, Dojo circled around the famous Christ statue and they all scanned the side of Corcovado Mountain for the cave Jon had described to them. Flying in closer, it wasn't long until it was spotted and Jon confirmed that it was the cave he had found. Looking at the position of it, it was a wonder Jon had managed to scramble out with one arm while bleeding heavily then run all the way to the Pedrosa home for medical attention.

"I'm not sure why, but this place is chillingly familiar," Dojo mused. 

Dojo let the occupants of his back leap off onto a narrow ledge before the mystical dragon changed to his convenient travel-size. The monks began heading into the cave before noticing Dojo wasn't following.

Clay called out to the hesitant dragon, "Dojo, bud, aren't you coming?"

Peeking his head into view around the edge of the cave, Dojo called back shakily, "No way! I'll just stay here with Jon so he doesn't get bored."

Raimundo muttered loudly to his friends, "He's just a 1500 year old mystical chicken. Let's go guys."

"I heard that!" The mystical chicken shouted, offended by the Dragon of the Wind's name-calling.

"You were meant to!" The Brazilian monk called back with a smirk.

Dojo glared at Raimundo, then turned the harsh gaze toward Jon when the one-armed Brazilian could be heard snickering. Instead of saying anything else, he turned his head away from both Brazilians and huffed. Jon could tell when someone was about to give the silent treatment to him, and Dojo was definitely giving him the silent treatment. Still smirking, Raimundo and the other monks proceeded deeper into the cave.

At first, the cave appeared like any other, rough walls eroded into the face of the mountain and a cool staleness dominating the air. But it wasn't long until the rough texture of the cave gave way to unnaturally smooth stone. Omi ran his hand along it, fascinated by the unusual phenomenon.

"What's the diagnosis, Omi?" Kimiko inquired jokingly.

Without removing his gaze from the smooth stone, Omi responded, oblivious to the sarcasm, "This is most strange, it appears to have been polished flawlessly."

Clay asked, "Does it give us any useful grub?"

"I do not believe it presents us any 'grub', but no person can polish wall this flawlessly— besides me, of course."

The Dragon of Fire rolled her eyes as she sarcastically agreed, "Of course, Omi."

Omi declared his hypothesis, "It must be the work of magic!"

"Which doesn't mean diddly if we don't get the Wu and take it back to the temple pronto." Raimundo interrupted the younger monk's declaration.

"You misunderstand Raimundo, it is a clue!"

"A clue to what, exactly?" Clay asked.

"Our foe is no mere human, it is a mystical being of great power!"

Kimiko interjected, "I really don't think that matters right now."

"I am simply trying to say we must be extra careful," Omi insisted, more sincerely than before.

"We'll keep that in mind," Kimiko assured him, and it seemed to please the little bald monk even though she barely gave his words a second thought.

They wandered deeper into the cave until light from the sun could no longer illuminate the way. They tried to make it through blindly in the dark when they realized they had forgotten a flashlight. But Kimiko took the lead with a fireball in her hand after Raimundo tripped and blamed it on a non-existent stalagmite.

Not long after they'd given up stumbling in the dark, a light could be seen just around a corner. Extinguishing her flame, Kimiko was the first to look around the corner to find a large chamber with no evidence as to what was producing the light that perfectly filled the room.

"This place is most strange," Omi observed, noting the odd light without a source. Suddenly, he gasped and pointed, "The Waters of Rejuvenation!"

In the center of the chamber, a pedestal protruded from the smooth cave floor; and on the pedestal sat a silver teapot flecked with gold. Other than the simple elegance that radiated the power of a Shen Gon Wu, the teapot was relatively simple and unimpressive.

"I'm not sure what other teapot would be displayed on a pedestal in a creepy cave," Raimundo voiced as he approached the pedestal. "So this must be the one we're looking for."

As the Shoku Warrior picked up the Shen Gon Wu and eyed it closely, a voice sternly ordered, "Put that down if you want to live."

The monks turned toward the far side of the chamber to see the speaker, a Brazilian man wearing torn jeans, and a shirt with the sleeves torn off in order to display his muscularity. His dark hair was attractively messy, complimenting his tan skin, and his dark eyes bored holes into the monk holding the teapot as his hand hovered over a sword at his belt. The man's defined chin and rugged good looks was enough to rival the sinister attractiveness of Chase Young.

"Dude, who are you and why are you wasting your life in a cave?" Raimundo questioned, rather than complying to the man's demands. "If I were you, I'd be out getting the ladies."

"I am Leonan Ribeiro of  _os Intocáveis._ " _  
_

"You mean that gang that couldn't do anything right?" The Dragon of the Wind asked for clarification, not sure if he heard the man correctly.

"Not anymore. Now we are the most fearsome gang on this side of Rio."

"What? How is that possible? You guys were pathetic," Raimundo exclaimed, shocked for reasons the other monks barely understood.

Eager to brag, Leonan began, "Once we found the  _Águas de Rejuvenescimento_  and the  _A espada de Juggernaut_ we could do more and take many more risks and still come out unscathed. The BOPE were unable to stop us!"

"Juggernaut's Sword?"

"Yes, it can cut through anything like butter, as long as you shout its name first," Leonan confirmed.

The mechanics of the Juggernaut's Sword couldn't be a coincidence, so it clearly had to be another Shen Gon Wu. Briefly, the monks had to wonder how two Shen Gon Wu came into the hands of a single man before they had revealed themselves. Raimundo continued, "Okay, got it. What about the Waters of Rejuvenation?"

"The teapot was able to cure any sicknesses or heal any injuries we sustained. None of our men stay out of commission very long, which lets us move onto our next mission without worrying about dwindling numbers."

"Were they both hidden here?" If that was the case, it was easy to assume Dojo had been lazy.

"No, we found the teapot in the rain forest and brought it back here. But the sword was already here."

"So how did you figure out the names of these, we both know they don't work unless you shout the name of it."

"Conveniently, they were labeled with sticky notes." Leonan shrugged, addressing the odd coincidence. To the monks, however, it was painfully obvious the unfortunate labeling of the mystical objects was one of Dojo's blunders.

Questioning the man's willingness to talk about their gang's secret weapons, Raimundo inquired, "Right, makes sense. But, why are you telling me all this?"

Smirking, Leonan answered, "Because you won't live long enough to tell anyone else."

"Ah, and that would explain it."

With that said, Leonan drew the Juggernaut's Sword, shouting it's name and leaping at Raimundo. Teapot still in hand, the Shoku Warrior easily evaded the attack. Glancing back to see how close to death he could have been, he saw the sword buried a significant distance into the ground. The other monks, who had slowly drifted closer to the conversation, immediately leapt into action to defend their friend.

"Lizard eating paper!" Omi cried as he charged in for his attack. The strange title of the martial arts move was enough to cause a confused Leonan to pause while Omi's foot met his face and used it as a platform to leap off into a flip and landing smoothly on the ground. The Dragon of Water came in for another attack, but this time his fist was caught by his opponent and he was tossed aside.

While Leonan still rubbed his forehead where Omi kicked him, Kimiko leaped in for her own attack while shouting, "Arrow Sparrow!" and the fiery projectiles rushed toward him.

" _A espada de Juggernaut_!" Leonan shouted, then stood ready and cut down Kimiko's onslaught of bird-shaped arrows.

Not willing to accept defeat, the hot-headed Japanese girl jumped into they fray for some hand-to-hand combat and risked being chopped to pieces by the dangerous sword. He swiped at her multiple times, but she gracefully evaded each attempt at her life. Though she wasn't being hit, she wasn't making much progress in her offensive either.

As Leonan was distracted with frustratingly missing every slash and jab he sent towards Kimiko, Clay stomped on the ground and shouted, "Wudai Crater Earth!" which cause the Earth to rumble underneath their feet and the ground to split underneath the Brazilian opponent just enough for him to lose his balance. When Leonan fell to his kness, Kimiko was able to land a few hits, though they didn't seem to effect him. Clay ordered a slab of earth to rise and launch Leonan over Kimiko's head and into the rock face a fair distance behind her. When he reached the wall, he had been able to gather his bearings and push off it with his feet and land safely on the ground.

Undeterred, Leonan got back to his feet and rushed towards Raimundo, intent on getting the Waters of Rejuvenation that the Dragon of Wind still possessed. "Give that back!" He shouted, coming in at great speed.

"Why don't you try to take it from me?" Raimundo side stepped out of the way and Leonan rushed past, unable to stop his charge quickly enough. When Leonan turned back around for another try, the Shoku Warrior ran straight toward him and slid underneath his attacker's legs at the last moment. As Leonan turned around, Raimundo tossed the teapot and shouted, "Omi, catch!"

Deftly catching the Shen Gon Wu, Omi proceeded to taunt Leonan, while insulting Raimundo as well, "You must be significantly untrained if you cannot even catch Raimundo!"

"Are you forgetting who's Shoku Warrior around here?!" Raimundo shouted back, offended.

"I'll show you who's untrained!" The frustrated Leonan exclaimed. " _A espada de Juggernaut!"_

* * *

When Dojo realized how boring giving Jon the silent treatment was, he gave up and the two started playing a thrilling game of Go Fish. However, when Jon won the first round, Dojo declared a best-two-out-of-three championship, which quickly turned into a best-three-out-of-five. Jon simply played along to appease the little dragon that could transform into a sixty-foot long fire-breathing one.

"Do you have any eights?" Dojo inquired, positive he would be getting Jon's card and finally win a round.

Getting bored of the game and Dojo's determination to win, Jon said, "Go fish."

Dojo, baffled he was wrong, exclaimed, "Drat! I was sure I had you that time!"

Discreetly glancing at Dojo's blatantly displayed hand of cards, Jon said, "Do you have any fives?"

Making an annoyed face and grumbling, Dojo threw his two fives at Jon. The one-armed Brazilian picked them up and laid out four fives in front of him to join the rest of his sets, while Dojo still had none. It was clear Jon had won. But, unwilling to give up without winning at least once, Dojo shouted, "Best four out of six!"

"Just give up already. I'm three for three and you haven't won once."

"I will not stop until I win!" The determined dragon persisted.

"If you insist."

As the next round started, Dojo paid Jack Spicer no heed as the evil boy genius and his new Jack-bots flew right past and into the cave. Instead, Dojo asked, "Do you have any twos?"

"Hold up, did you not see that?!" Jon questioned, jumping to his feet.

"See what?"

"The guy and a bunch of robots that rushed right on past us!"

"You mean Jack Spicer?" Dojo asked. "Nah, I wouldn't worry about him."

Still uncertain, he checked, "Are you sure?"

"Positive. Now sit down while I win this game."

Slowly, Jon sat down and lost focus on the game of Go Fish. With Jon distracted by the Evil Boy Genius who flew past them, Dojo finally managed to win a round. Celebrating his brilliant success, Dojo danced in place and bragged, but the one-armed Brazilian didn't care. He was concerned about what was happening inside of the cave, debating on whether or not to go in and investigate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *os Intocáveis=The Untouchables. I couldn't think of a good gang name, so I Googled a gang name generator then translated it into Portuguese.
> 
> I'm pretty sure sticky notes don't last 1500 years, but I needed a way for Leonan to know how to the names so he could use the Wu. Plus, it's something the show might do. I also figured that the Shen Gon Wu can work in any language, but don't ask why Dojo wrote the notes in Portuguese, maybe he was practicing his linguistics.
> 
> I've been working hard on this, I even took my time and read over the drafts a couple times before posting, so I'd like some reviews. I hardly ever put this much effort into something. I only hope my motivation will last long enough for me to finish this, because I do like the idea. I find too many romance fanfics, which are annoying if you want some adventure without romance to spoil the excitement. It's hard to find shipping done right, it really is.


	3. Chapter 3

Both sides were more or less evenly matched. At an advantage, the monks did well in the skirmish against Leonan. However, he gained ground as well when they had to avoid the swing of his deadly Juggernaut's Sword. While he wielded that Shen Gon Wu, the blade couldn't so much as touch them while it was in motion. The monks' strategy consisted of evading and annoying the enemy while they played a dangerous game of Monkey in the Middle.

Clay held the Waters of Rejuvenation and tossed it to Raimundo as he sidestepped to avoid an advance from Leonan. Quickly gloving the Fist of Tebigong, Clay shouted its name and thrust his fist into Leonan's jaw. The force of the Shen Gon Wu-enhanced impact caused him to fly a fair distance before hitting the ground again.

Wasting no time getting up, Leonan jumped to his feet and charged at the Shoku Warrior. Raimundo deftly leaped over Leonan's head with a burst of wind to avoid the charge. After tossing the mystical teapot to Kimiko, Raimundo confronted their enemy and tried to prevent him from getting past. The Dragon of Wind prepared himself with the Blade of the Nebula, counting on the idea that his Wudai weapon was packed with enough mystical energy to counter the effects of Leonan's unstoppable sword. Leonan called out the name of his Shen Gon Wu and lashed out and was heavily surprised when his attack didn't cut through Raimundo's weapon as the Xiaolin Dragon blocked with it. Raimundo, on the other hand, was relieved his gamble paid off. If the Blade of the Nebula had been sliced clean through, he would have been in some serious trouble.

The two Brazilians didn't scuffle for very long before an obnoxious laugh flooded the chamber. Everyone looked towards the announcing form floating in the air with his heli-pack strapped to his back. "Jack Spicer, evil boy genius, has arrived! Out of my way, losers! Unless you want my new Sticky-Bots to stick you in your place!" The pale teen laughed at his own pun before continuing, "Now hand over the Wu!"

Kimiko, unimpressed, scoffed, "Not a chance, Jack. Just quit while you're behind."

"Ouch. Your cruel words burn, Kimiko," Jack responded, mimicking a pained expression. "If that's how you feel, Sticky-Bots, Attack!"

At Jack's orders, the robots sprang into action and the monks inwardly groaned. They had more important things to worry about than Jack Spicer and his pathetic attempts at world domination. Nevertheless, they fended off the attacking Sticky-Bots easily; even Leonan began slicing away at them. It wasn't long until the Sticky-Bots began shooting globs of lightly yellow tinted goop at them. The first to get hit was Clay, his shoulder had been nailed but he stood straight and was unharmed. He dipped a couple of fingers in the substance and unwisely tasted it. After taking a moment to process the taste, he announced calmly, "It's glue."

"Not just any glue, it's my super-sticky glue! You'll never be able to escape!"

After the identity of the substance the Sticky-Bots were shooting at them was revealed, Kimiko was caught. Her right foot was stuck to the ground and she couldn't move out of the way of any attacks.

"Looks like you're in something of a sticky situation, Kimiko!" Jack mocked, which was quickly followed by his obnoxious evil laugh. Thinking himself funny, he added, "Get it? Sticky situation? My genius amazes even me."

Even while she was stuck, Kimiko was able to destroy any Sticky-Bots that came too close with her trusty Arrow Sparrows. Leonan and the other monks were successful against the Sticky-Bots as well. They didn't let the glue stuck on their clothes and in their hair slow them down. Omi took them out easily as he shouted the ridiculous names of his attacks, Raimundo expertly evaded and let more than a couple robots take each other out, and Clay fought in his signature American cowboy fashion: direct and immovable.

As usual, Jack watched his robots get destroyed from above. He was confident at first, but his cockiness waned when he saw his Sticky-bots were being destroyed quicker than he anticipated. Suddenly, out of time and robots, he realized he could have used the time when everyone was distracted to find the Shen Gon Wu.

"What? No Fair!" Jack exclaimed. He put up his hands in a time-out gesture as he said, "Time out guys. I'm out of Sticky-bots."

"What a darned shame," Clay exclaimed sarcastically. "I guess you're all that's left."

Jack, seeing that all his robots were destroyed and everyone was poised to attack him, fled the scene as quickly as he could to save his skin. Hearing his high-pitched screaming never ceased to be amusing. The extra echo the cave created made enduring Jack's ridiculous attack worth it.

"Now that Jack's out of the way," Raimundo brushed his hands together and gripped the Blade of the Nebula again, "Where were we?"

But when Raimundo turned to face Leonan, the  _os Intocáveis_ gang member wasn't where he had been just a moment before. Frantically looking around the room, he spotted Kimiko struggling to free herself from the glue that kept her stuck to the ground. She grunted in frustration and tugged with all her might, but it clearly wasn't enough. With all of her effort focused on freeing herself from her sticky situation, she didn't notice Leonan running towards her with the Juggernaut's Sword poised to kill.

Swiftly approaching his target, who still possessed the Waters of Rejuvenation he so desperately wanted back, Leonan shouted, " _A espada de Juggernaut!"_

"Kimiko!" The other three monks yelled in unison, partly to get her attention, partly a mere reflex.

Finally noticing the approaching threat, Kimiko put all of her remaining strength into stopping him with fire and Arrow Sparrows, but nothing seemed to be able to slow Leonan at this point. As he got closer, she squeezed her eyes shut with her heart pounding and hoped for a miracle, painfully aware that she couldn't stop him.

As fast as the little guy was, it was clear Omi was too far away to make it in time. Relying on Clay's speed would be a mistake, despite the Dragon of Earth being the closest. His powers over Wind able to boost his speed, Raimundo was the only one with a chance to make it. But even if he did get there in time, there wasn't much he could do to stop the rampaging Juggernaut.

In his typical, act-first-think-later fashion, Raimundo took off to stop Leonan from turning Kimiko into Shish Kebab.

"Shoku Astro Wind! Blade of the Nebula!" He yelled once he thought he was close enough, swinging his Wudai Weapon around to stir up the air as he commanded the wind to blow Leonan far off course.

Unfortunately, not even the strength of the ripping wind could deter Leonan in his desperate effort to get the Waters of Rejuvenation back; not while he had the Juggernaut's Sword. If he failed to protect it, the rest of  _os Intocáveis_ would be furious and he'd have to pay the price. Whether that price was being kicked out of the gang or death, he didn't know, neither did he care for either option. As far as he was concerned, he wasn't going to fail.

Letting out a final shout, Leonan thrust his sword forward and was pleased when the Juggernaut's Sword found its way into a human body. With a dark smile, he paused for a moment to let his success sink in and listened to his victim choke on their breath.

* * *

Back outside, Jon was suddenly losing all the rounds of Go Fish. Now that the one-armed Brazilian was distracted with the worry of Jack and his robots being inside the cave with the others, he and Dojo were tied each with three wins. But once he spotted Jack screaming like a little girl as he fled without any robots, Jon was suddenly impressed by the skills of the monks. Of course, if he'd known anything about Jack, he wouldn't be so easily impressed.

Without turning to see Jack flying away at top speed, Dojo remarked, "There's Jack, right on time."

"So this happens all the time?" Jon inquired.

"Pretty much. We go to get the Wu, Jack shows up to get it himself so he can take over the world, then we kick his can and he runs away screaming."

"You mean, Raimundo and the others kick his can."

"Hey, I do plenty of can-kicking myself! You should have seen me single-handedly defeat the Sapphire Dragon!" Dojo boasted, raising his chin smugly.

Sarcastically, Jon responded, "Because that really means a lot to me," Dojo opened his mouth to explain the highlight of his success, but was stopped by Jon, who said, "I don't really care. But I do want to know more about this teapot."

"You mean the Waters of Rejuvenation?"

"Yeah, that. You said it can heal any wound, right? Including severed arms?"

"Well, yeah. As long as it isn't dead, it can be healed," Dojo answered, and then obliviously added, "Why do you care?"

Jon gave him an unimpressed look before waving his half-arm around to make it even more obvious than it already was. Finally, once it clicked, Dojo said with a sheepish grin, "Oh, that. Right."

Rolling his eyes, Jon began, "Well, if you get this magic teapot—"

"The Waters of Rejuvenation," Dojo interrupted to correct.

"Whatever. If you get it, I want you to heal my arm. I helped you get here; you help me get my arm back, fair enough?"

Smiling, Dojo agreed, "Fair enough."

As if to finalize the deal, the two shook hands and they continued their enticing game of Go Fish. With the worries that had previously crammed his head gone, Jon got back into the game and continued to beat the mystical dragon, who grew more frustrated at each loss. Eventually, Dojo caught on and accused Jon of cheating, but the one-armed Brazilian denied the accusation.

* * *

Surprised she did not feel any pain, Kimiko briefly wondered if she had died quickly but dismissed the idea when she could still feel the cold glue stuck to her leg and her heart still pounding in her chest. She risked opening her eyes to see what miracle had saved her life. Once she did, she wished she hadn't. The tip of Leonan's sword was inches away from her face, blood dripping from the tip. She was barely able to see Leonan past where Raimundo stood between them.

Taking in the sword that jutted clean through Raimundo's abdomen, Kimiko could not resist hysterically screaming his name. When the noise escaped her lips, she could hardly believe it was her making it. It was a desperate and unearthly sound, even to her ears. Once Leonan removed the sword, Raimundo swayed a moment as he pressed against the wound with his hands before crumpling to the ground. Unsure of what to do for a few critical moments, she suddenly remembered the purpose of the Waters of Rejuvenation and fumbled to grip its handle.

Still fumbling with the life-saving Shen Gon Wu shakily in her hand, and her voice barely functional, she said, "Waters of Rejuvenation, please work."

While her grip was still loose and shaky, Leonan ripped the teapot from her hand before she could tip it over the Shoku Warrior's collapsed and shallowly breathing form. Though she tried, she didn't have the strength to fight back. Leonan informed her, "I can't let you take this and ruin my life when it has just gotten good."

That last thing anyone expected was for Clay to stomp toward Leonan murderously. Normally, the Dragon of Earth was the calm and collected guy. But he also deeply cared for his friends, and seeing Leonan intentionally aim his sword at them wasn't something Clay was about to take lightly. Now that Raimundo was down, he had no problem with tearing Leonan's head off of his shoulders.

As Clay approached, Leonan prepared for a fight. But, there was an odd squishing sound underneath Clay's boot, eliciting a, "What in tarnation?" from the cowboy as he looked to see what he stepped on. When his boot wouldn't move, he realized he had stepped in some of the glue left behind by Jack's Sticky-bots and was now unable to lift his feet from where they were stuck. He sighed and had no choice but to let his head cool off.

Leonan observed, "That was anti-climactic." Quickly shrugging it off, he turned towards Omi, "Now there's only one left to worry about."

Omi felt more than ready for a fight, and welcomed the challenge by saying, "It would be my pleasure."

After taking a few steps forward, Leonan was halted by Kimiko's cries, "No, no, no! I won't let you!" She wasn't about to watch Leonan and Omi fight while she sat at the sidelines helplessly. Her body rose in temperature, flames licking off her skin, until the intense heat was enough to melt the glue off of her and successfully allow her to move again.

Once freed, her voice rose as she seethed, "You think I'm just going to sit there helplessly after what you did? I don't think so!" She yelled, "Wudai Mars Fire!"

Her form changed to a black silhouette outlined in red, shocking Leonan, who had never seen anything like it before. As he stood dumbfounded, Kimiko attacked him with all her strength and fully intended to kill him. He could do nothing to stop her and was forced to endure her onslaught of fury. Continuing to hold the Waters of Rejuvenation in an iron grip, he clung to the knowledge that it would heal him once it was over.

Mercilessly, the Dragon of Fire inflicted serious burns, and landed crippling blows. Even when he was no longer the attractive man they initially met—his face deformed by dark bruises, missing teeth, and blood—she refused to cut him any slack. He was ignored twice as many times as he cried for mercy. Though she knew she shouldn't be sinking to his level, the desire for revenge and the satisfaction she found in his screams drowned out her rational thoughts. Only later would she come to regret not practicing the philosophical teachings of peace and mercy of the Xiaolin path that Master Fung taught them. Violence, after all, led to the Heylin side.

As surprising as it was that Leonan was still conscious, Kimiko held him in the air by his collar and pulled back her fist for, supposedly, the final blow. Before she brought in her fist to meet his face, she growled, "I'll make you pay for what you did. You'll pay with everything you have!"

"Kimiko, you must stop!" A voice called to her, causing her to hesitate and continue to hold her fist up in the air, still prepared to thrust it into her enemy's face. It took a few moments for the enraged Japanese girl to register the voice as Omi's.

Clay's voice joined in as well, "It don't do you any good to kill the horse that bucks off the rider."

Turning towards the cowboy, she let go of Leonan and exclaimed, "This is a more serious than a temperamental horse, Clay!"

"We have more important matters to attend to, Kimiko," Omi insisted. "Raimundo's well-being is at stake!"

Her rage began to dwindle as she choked on tears and attempted to say, "Don't you think I know that? I had the Wu in my hands and he took it!"

No longer the black silhouette her Wudai Mars ability caused her to become, she gasped, realizing she hadn't thought to take The Waters of Rejuvenation back yet. Turning around to face him, she found Leonan was no longer there. She looked around the room desperately, but he was no longer anywhere in the room and took the Shen Gon Wu with him.

"That coward!" She growled, lighting her hands on fire, prepared to chase Leonan down. "I should have burned off his feet!"

"Kimiko, now isn't the time," Clay persisted as Omi discovered water could dissolve the glue from Jack's Sticky-bots.

They all rushed to their fallen leader's side, praying he still had enough life in him to be saved. First, they implemented whatever first aide they knew that would help him last longer. After they did what they could, Clay picked up the Dragon of Wind's limp form and they all ran out as quickly as they could to get Raimundo to help. To prevent stumbling in the dark, Kimiko lit the tunnel with a bright flame in hand.

* * *

Initially relieved to hear the sound of footsteps from the cave and stop playing Go Fish, Jon soon noticed something wrong when those footsteps came at a running pace. There was no apparent reason why the sound of running should be coming from the cave, save it be for something bad. 

Before Jon could come up with anything to assure himself everything was fine, Omi shot out of the tunnel and quickly skidded to a stop as he urgently ordered, "Dojo, we must leave immediately!"

"Uh... why?" The dumbfounded dragon responded.

"There is little time to explain, just become large already!" The little monk insisted, waving his arms frantically.

When Kimiko appeared from the mouth of the cave and almost ran off the side of the mountain, Dojo obliged. As he did so, he muttered, "Bossy little kid, isn't he?"

Once Clay came out of the cave, carrying a bloodied and unconscious Raimundo, Dojo understood the urgency. Everyone hopped on the mystical dragon's back immediately before flying into the sky.

Unsure, Dojo asked, "Where are we going?"

"Back to the Pedrosa's place," Jon immediately suggested, and then explained, "Marco's a doctor, remember?"

"It'll be easier than trying to explain the Hoe-Down to the doctors at a hospital," Clay added.

Jon uncertainly answered, "Sure, whatever you say."

The smooth, rhythmic undulation of Dojo's back as he flew was not enough to erase even a small fraction of their worries. When Jon inquired as to how Raimundo had gotten injured, Kimiko had suggested the story wait until they got to Marco's office so they could explain the situation to everyone who wanted to know without repeating the story multiple times. It would be hard enough to tell it even once.

Though Leonan's sword failed to land a fatal blow, missing anything immediately vital to survival, Raimundo began to pale drastically as he lost more blood. It didn't take long to arrive at the Pedrosa home thanks to Dojo, but every second felt like an eternity as they hoped they wouldn't lose their friend.

Absorbing the reactions of Raimundo's family was painful, but impossible to avoid. Explaining the situation proved to be tedious when Clay failed to find the words to explain, Kimiko couldn't speak coherently, and Omi could not find a way to break the news easy.

In the end, Rosa fainted upon learning her son was severely injured as Marco desperately tried to save his little brother's life.


	4. Chapter 4

Sitting upon the green couch in the Pedrosa's living room, Omi, Kimiko, and Clay sat in awkward silence with Rosa and her oldest daughter, Thays. They were all worried about Raimundo, but none of them knew what to say.

Clay was the first to break the silence, "So, if I may ask, what was Raimundo like before coming to the Xiaolin temple?" As well as being the only thing they all had in common, it was a good chance to get to know their leader better, who was rarely liberal about his past.

"He's always been an interesting child," Rosa mused. She continued, "I can tell you that this isn't the first time Marco has had to save his life."

"It isn't?" Kimiko asked, listening intently.

"Well, there was this one time," Rosa began.

* * *

Ten year-old Raimundo Pedrosa strode confidently through the  _Jacarezinho_ favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Even though he was warned about the dangers of the favela riddled with violence, poverty, and drug dealing, he chose to ignore them.

Jon had told him of the adventures he had here, including some close calls with the BOPE. After hearing all about that, Raimundo had to check it out for himself. But there was nothing particularly exciting happening yet and he was beginning to question the legitimacy of Jon's stories.

Even though it wasn't particularly strange for a child to roam the streets, it was weird for someone with clothes as nice as his in this poverty-stricken part of Rio and it wasn't much longer until he was approached by a strange gruff-looking man who looked Raimundo up and down with much more interest than the young boy preferred.

Raimundo harshly ordered, "Take yourself someplace else and leave me alone."

Instead of doing as Raimundo told him, the man simply instructed, "Take off your shoes."

"What?" Raimundo raised an eyebrow and looked down at his shoes. "Why would you want my shoes?"

The man repeated, "Take off your shoes."

"And what if I don't?" Raimundo defiantly refused.

Without saying anything, the man slung Raimundo over his shoulder as if to answer the question. The young Brazilian struggled and shouted for help valiantly, but to no avail. He was going anywhere this man wanted him to go. As the strange man weaved through the narrow streets and alleys, they eventually came to a stop and Raimundo was set back down. Before Raimundo could make a break for it and get away, a hand was clamped around his wrist and not about to let go.

Once again, the man instructed, "Take off your shoes."

"Dude, you're crazy! They won't even fit you!" Raimundo argued.

Pulling a gun from his pocket and pointing it at Raimundo's face, the man said, "I will not tell you again."

"Okay, okay! You can have my shoes!" He consented desperately as he looked down the barrel of the gun. "Just leave me alone!"

With the gun still pointed at his head, Raimundo tore off his shoes as quickly as he could with only one hand. Once he had the shoes off, the man let him go and took the shoes. Once freed from the man's iron grip, Raimundo took off as quickly as his legs could carry him without bothering to look back.

He ran without pausing to figure out where he was running to and was quickly lost. He eventually slowed to a walk when he was gasping greedily for air. Realizing he could hear the sounds of a gunfight over the deafening pounding of his heart that he couldn't hear while he had been running. Looking around him he realized he had run straight into a conflict between the BOPE and local gangs.

"Now this is what I came here for." Raimundo grinned. Perhaps losing his shoes would be worth it.

His excitement was cut short when a larger person ran into Raimundo and knocked them both to the ground. With the breath knocked out of him, he cringed when the man who ran into him angrily faced him, wielding a large firearm.

"What are you doing kid?! Get out of my way!" the gangster yelled at him. He wore no shirt and camouflage shorts with a red bandanna tied around his neck like an American cowboy.

Before Raimundo could get a word in, the gangster ran off. He turned around and saw multiple BOPE officers running after the gangsters with their own guns. One turned to face him and started yelling at him to put his hands on top of his head. When Raimundo tried to explain his situation, he was interrupted by the sound of a gunshot that rang through his mind as his clutched his pained stomach. Unfortunately, as the officer who shot him ran forward, Raimundo realized he wasn't getting any help from the BOPE; they shot first and asked questions later.

The Brazilian that lost his shoes left the scene before another gun could be pointed at him. Removing his hand from his wound he found it to be covered in red liquid.

"That's just great. This sounded more fun when Jon was telling me about it," Raimundo grunted through gritted teeth. Then he groaned, "Mom is going to kill me."

He could either go to the nearest hospital, the  _Posto de Saúde Rio de Janeiro Brasil_ , or to his brother who worked at the  _Salgado Filho Municipal Hospital_. Neither option seemed very pleasing to him. But, despite how little the injured Brazilian with no shoes wanted to show his family the results of his reckless actions, he pressed forward in the hopes he could get home quickly. Multiple times, Raimundo had come home with various scrapes, bruises, sprains, and broken bones for Marco to care for. Never before had he come crawling home with a bullet wound.

And it seemed he never would, because Raimundo's vision began to fade and it wasn't long until everything went black.

* * *

"Jon found Rai not too long after and carried him back here," Rosa finished.

"As smart as he is, Rai always gets himself into trouble," Thays sighed in exasperation. "It's just his luck for something like this to happen today."

"That's no more surprisin' than a chicken on a June bug," Clay agreed.

"What is so lucky about today?" Omi inquired.

"Didn't he tell you?" Rosa asked. She continued when she got shakes of the head from Omi and Clay, "Today is his sixteenth birthday."

Kimiko exclaimed, "I knew it!" When Omi and Clay gave her strange looks, Kimiko explained sheepishly, "I sort of looked at the box he got today. No biggie."

It looked as if Clay opened his mouth to say something to her, not very pleased with her actions, but Omi interrupted, "But why has he never told us this before?"

"Maybe it's because he's never had much luck on his birthday," Thays informed them. After a moment, she added with a slight shrug, "Or maybe it just never came up."

"What do you mean?" Kimiko questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, it started on his eighth birthday," Rosa started to recount the experience.  **  
**

* * *

The boat had sounded like a good idea, and along for the ride was Rosa and Sergio with their children, Thays, Sophia, Bianca, Raimundo, and Antonio. Raimundo, now officially eight, loved the idea of going offshore into the ocean a mile or two for his birthday. The oldest child, Twenty year -old Marco, was unable to attend. He had left for medical school in the United States not too long before, hoping to come back and earn enough money to help support the large Pedrosa family.

Nevertheless, they were enjoying the trip and all was going well. The weather was perfect and everyone was adequately entertained. Besides enjoying the various shapes of the clouds and how they changed as they slowly drifted past, Raimundo liked to watch the waves of the ocean and spot as many fish as he could.

However, three older boys began teasing a little girl that was Raimundo's age with her dark hair in little pigtails. They tossed her teddy bear back and forth in a tormenting game of monkey in the middle. Raimundo had sympathy on the girl and could not stand by as tears streamed down the poor girl's face.

"Leave her alone!" He demanded, approaching the older boys bravely and staring them straight in the eyes. Even though he felt intimidating, they just laughed.

"Did you hear that Fabio?" One of them asked another, holding the bear. "This squirt thinks he can take us on."

"Oh yeah, Pedro," Fabio answered. "He must be crazy. What do you think we should do we should do, Davi?"

Davi responded, leaning on the railing of the boat, "I think we should knock his head into the right place. It's obviously not on right."

Ignoring their threats, Raimundo persisted, "Just give the bear back. It isn't yours."

"Is that right? Why don't you just take it from us?" Pedro defied the demands, waving the stuffed bear tauntingly in front of him.

As if to answer, Raimundo made a grab for the teddy bear, but Pedro tossed it to Davi. Clenching his teeth, Raimundo chased after it as the girl watched with wide eyes. The bear was passed between the three bullies, who began to mock Raimundo with their fake yawning and laughing.

Catching a pass from Davi, Pedro decided to make their game more interesting and shouted, "Go long!" and tossed it above Davi's head, aiming for the water.

Despite the hopeless chance of getting the teddy bear, Raimundo made a jump for it. Feeling as if he was being pushed upward by an invisible force, Raimundo managed to catch the stuffed animal as it flew over the railing and everyone gaped. Astonished, and very proud of himself, Raimundo didn't realize he wasn't going to land back in the boat until he landed in the water on his back.

The three bullies, Pedro, Fabio, and Davi all crowded the railing and looked over the edge, waiting for Raimundo to surface. They may be bullies, but their intention had never been to land anyone in the water. The little girl ran quickly to her parents, desperately babbling nonsense.

Unsurprisingly, they did not understand. Her mother asked, "What's wrong, Clara?"

Pointing over to the railing frantically, she managed to spit out, "He... he fell!"

Understanding that, Clara's parents were over by the railing within moments. Turning to the bullies, they demanded, "What happened?"

"We're not sure. He just flew off!" Davi answered honestly, but with only part of the story.

Quickly, a crowd gathered to see what was wrong and were able to see Raimundo's small form sinking deeping into the water. Clara's father was about to leap off the boat when his wife stopped him, saying, "Wait, there's a Man o' War in there!"

While Rosa was paralyzed with fear, Sergio did not hesitate to jump into the water to save his son despite the Man o' War being so close to where Raimundo was. After a large splash of water and swimming to the proper spot, Sergio went under. While he dipped his head under to save his son, everyone on the boat held their breath in anticipation. The was an audible sigh of relief when Sergio's head surfaced, along with an unconscious Raimundo. Amazingly, the eight year-old still clung onto Clara's teddy bear.

After both the soaking wet Pedrosa boys were brought back onto deck, Raimundo was rushed to the on-deck doctor for temporary aide until they returned to shore and could reach a hospital for emergency treatment. Clara had even visited him, grateful he had stood up to the bullies despite the consequences that followed. The little girl couldn't think of any better way to thank him than give him the teddy bear he could have died for.

* * *

"I still don't understand how he fell off," Rosa said, baffled. "He was always reckless, but he was also smart enough to be careful around the railings."

"Could it be possible?" Clay whispered to his friends.

"No way," Kimiko answered in disbelief in the same hushed tone.

"He did not have the training," Omi pointed out quietly.

"And yet..." they trailed off in unison. They weren't sure if it was possible that Raimundo had used his powers over wind to jump high enough to catch the teddy bear without any training, but it seemed to be the only way he could have done it.

Pondering it for a moment, they each realized they had a similar experience that tied them to their element.

* * *

The young monk spent his time in the yard training valiantly, day after day, without fail. He knew he was destined to become the Xiaolin Dragon of Water, and longed for the day he could manipulate the liquid to his will. Master Fung told him the skill would come in time only if he worked hard every day. Of course, Omi perfected all his forms and expected that to be enough. He faced the fountain as it streamed water from it's top down into the pool below it, shouting for it to do as he commanded.

That particular day, he stared down the fountain with as much intensity as he could manage. He hardly looked threatening, but Omi didn't need to know that. His confidence high, he shouted, "Water!" willing the water to move. Yet, just as the many days before, nothing extraordinary took place.

Perhaps he did not know exactly what he wanted the water to do or didn't understand what it took to control a substance that doesn't want to do as it's told. It was also likely he merely did not possess the experience required for the element to obey. Whatever the case, his reoccurring failure frustrated him. Omi had unparalleled confidence in his abilities, yet he could not explain what was wrong.

"Still not giving it a rest, I see," the mystical dragon of the temple, Dojo, noted.

"I will not rest until I have mastered my element!" Omi insisted, speaking the Chinese native to his home as well as Dojo.

"Don't worry about it," Dojo assured the monk. "Master Fung said that it will just click one day. But I don't think that day will be today."

"Nevertheless, I must try!" Omi continued to stare down the water, breathing deeply and calmly, and then tried again.

"Why don't you take a break, just long enough to try my snicker doodles," The mystical dragon suggested, holding out one of the cookies he referred to. "They have an unmatched scrumptious-level!"

"Perhaps another time. I am not hungry for sweets at this time."

"Aw, come on. I made this one specially for you."

"No, thank you."

"Just one bite?"

"No."

"Maybe-"

"I said no!" Omi shouted, his frustration bubbling to the surface and directed at Dojo. The moment he shouted, the water from the fountain increased in pressure, showering the surrounding area far beyond it's usual limits and thoroughly soaking both the mystical dragon and the Dragon of Water.

"I'll just go back inside and dry off," Dojo nervously informed, dropping the matter of the cookie.

Once the nosy dragon was gone, Omi looked back at the fountain as it innocently spouted its water like it always does. After blinking once or twice, he deemed his small victory cause for celebration.

* * *

The Tohomiko girl sat by the lit fireplace as she played the prototype for a new game her father was developing. Once of the perks of being the only child of a electronic gaming tycoon was that she got to play all the games he made. So far, Kimiko's favorite was Goo Zombies. She could smell a franchise when she played it, and Goo Zombies would definitely need a sequel after it hit the market.

As she started the boss level, her father walked in and watched over her shoulder. He commented in Japanese, "You've made it to the boss level very quickly, Kimiko."

"I know, it's an addicting game. I couldn't put it down!" Kimiko grinned, engrossed in the digital mission. "This will definitely be a hit."

"I am glad you think so." He hesitated a moment before tentatively saying, "I hate to tell you this, but I have some regrettable news you need to know."

Pausing the game, Kimiko's heart sank deep into her stomach. She was afraid she knew what he was going to tell her, but she desperately hoped she was wrong. Anything, just anything other than that. Her voice shook as she asked, "What do you mean?"

"Your mother and I..." He hesitated, afraid of how Kimiko will take the news. Finally, he closed his eyes so he wouldn't see the pain in his daughter's eyes as he stated, "We're getting a divorce."

It was just as she suspected, her parents had been fighting more frequently lately, but she refused to believe it. She shouted, almost begging him, "You can't be serious! Tell me you're joking, please!"

"I'm afraid not." He refused to meet her gaze, staring down at his shoes rather than face her.

"There has to be another way! You can't be that mad at each other, can you?" Her voice contained more than a hint of desperation.

Sighing, Toshiro places placed his hands on his daughter's shoulders. "You have to understand, Kimiko, we just do not feel the same about each other anymore."

Kimiko clenched her fists and angrily brushed his hands away. As her body temperature rose, she shouted, "That's just an excuse you came up with! You both just gave up, didn't you?! You're tired of fighting and you just have to wimp out!" She knew she shouldn't have said it, let alone continue yelling, but she did, "What about me? Haven't either of you thought about what this will do to me?!"

"Kimiko, please-" Toshiro began, attempting to reason with her.

"No,  _Dad," s_ he refused, venomously emphasizing the word 'dad.' "You can talk all you want, but I refuse to listen!"

After one last aggravated shout from the hotheaded girl, the fireplace suddenly burst into a bonfire. Kimiko paid it little heed as she stormed out as angrily as possible while her father rushed to find a fire extinguisher. But once he prepared himself to douse the fire, it had diminished itself into nothing but a few thin wisps of smoke. Toshiro was left alone to scratch his head and ponder the events that transpired mere moments before.

* * *

Given the task of driving the cattle to river, Clay Bailey trotted along on his trusty steed as he did his work. It was his first time driving the cattle on his own, and he was eager to show his father, Daddy Bailey, he could do a good job on his own. But, Clay's younger sister, Jesse, wasn't too happy about being left out. She wanted to prove she could do just as well as her big brother could. But Daddy Bailey denied her insistent request to go with Clay without a convincing explanation.

On his own, except for his horse and cattle, Clay observed the dry Texan landscape. As many times as he'd gone along this course with Daddy Bailey, it simply looked different when he was on his own. It seemed to be a completely different experience this time around, and the young cowboy could not figure out why.

When they finally got to the river, Clay gave his horse a fervent pat and dismounted while the cattle satisfied their thirst. Rather parched himself as the heat beat down on him harshly, about half of the water in his contents was downed and poured down his sticky back and onto his forehead. Taking a look at the cattle, he figured they would take awhile. So, he found a comfortable spot underneath the shade of a nearby tree where he could keep an eye on the livestock.

However, he didn't realize how tired he was until his eyelids began feeling heavy. He was out before any rational thoughts could cross his mind.

Not knowing how long he had been out, he ignored the familiar voice distantly calling to him. It wasn't until he felt a hand slap across his face that he remembered he still had a job to do and had no time for any dozing off. He blinked and looked up at the person who woke him up.

"Jesse?" He asked in disbelief. "What are you doing here?"

"I thought you could use some help, so I followed you," she answered proudly.

Clay wasn't so impressed. He said, "Daddy's going to have a cow when he finds out what you did."

She folded her arms and stated, matter-of-factly, "He won't be mad at me if I tell him you were sleeping like Auntie Gertrude after Thanksgiving dinner when the cattle wandered off."

He paid her little attention until he realized what she had said. He whipped around to look at where he left the cattle and saw approximately a fourth of them missing. Gasping in shock, Clay exclaimed, "Daddy's going to have a herd when he finds out about this!"

"You're lucky I was here to round up as many as I did. About half of them were gone when I got here."

"I've got to find the rest of them, or Daddy's going to serve _me_ for dinner tonight!" Clay exclaimed as he hurriedly mounted his horse. "Come on Jesse, you've gotta help me!"

With a smirk, Jesse answered, "Gladly. But you'll owe me."

"Okay, okay. Just help me out, sis." If he hadn't been so panicked, Clay might have wondered how Jesse could use this against him, but he hastily agreed instead. Jesse smirked and mounted her horse as Clay hopped on his.

Clay breathed an immense sigh of relief when the cattle were found. They hadn't wandered very far and lazily grazed on whatever patches of vegetation they could find. It was a simple matter for the siblings to gather them together and herd them back toward the river. Feeling confident again, Clay did a quick count of the cattle to make sure they were all accounted for. Unfortunately, one was still missing.

Groaning, he turned back in search of the last cow and Jesse followed behind. They spent about twenty minutes looking before the final stray cow was spotted. Clay began to approach on his steed when the cow looked up at him with it's large eyes. Suddenly, the cow turned the other direction and began running away.

"What in tarnation?" Clay exclaimed. "They've never done that before!"

"Maybe you're just not cut out for this," Jesse suggested mockingly.

Instead of responding, Clay set his jaw and nudged his horse onward at a gallop. He wielded his trusty lasso and, once he was within range, let it fly. It found its way around the horn of the animal, having been thrown by an expert, and the slack began to quickly vanish. Instead of the cow stopping when the rope snapped straight, it pulled Clay off of his horse. But, even when he met the hard ground with a loud thud, he did not let go of the rope.

Being dragged behind the panicked cow was somewhat embarrassing, but nothing compared to what he'd have to face if his father found out about the fiasco. Determined not to fail, Clay somehow managed to get his feet under him and lean back with all of his weight and pull with all of his might in an attempt to stop the cow.

When Jesse saw his ridiculous attempt, she scoffed. Of course it would never work, the cow had every advantage over him at that point. But her eyes widened in surprise, when the ground began pile up under his feet to give him more support. Soon enough, the cow was trying to pull the weight of the earth and was forced to stop.

Clay opened his eyes and found himself standing behind a large pile of Earth, essentially a hill, and proceeded to climb over it. The cow had given up and calmed down enough for the siblings to lead it back to the rest of the herd. Once all the cattle were returned, they were driven back and returned to the ranch, where both Clay and Jesse were silent about the events that transpired on their trip.


	5. Chapter 5

Waking up with a groan, Raimundo Pedrosa cracked open his eyes, only to throw his hands over them to block the light again with an annoyed moan. As he senses slowly caught up with him, he noticed the familiar sterile scent that was prevalent in the air as it burned his nostrils. Furrowing his brow underneath his hands, he desperately tried to remember what would put him in this situation.

At first, he remembered nothing. But memories flashed through his mind and shouted resonated within his skull soon enough.

_Kimiko put all her remaining strength into... but nothing seemed to be able to stop Leonan... not even the strength of the ripping wind could deter... the Juggernaut's Sword found its way into a human body... Kimiko hysterically screaming his name... "No, no, no! I won't let you!"... "Kimiko, you must stop!"..._

Then, there was nothing left. The fragments of memory were enough to cause Raimundo to shoot up to a sitting position in realization. Immediately, though he should have known better than to do it in the first place, he regretted the action and fell back down into the pillow with a pained moan. When the pain in his stomach ebbed, he looked down to see bandages wrapping around his body and his eyes widened to see a spot of red slowly blossom across the white gauze.

He drearily looked around the room, taking in the predicted white walls and medical equipment. However, it didn't take him long to realize he was not in a hospital, but back home in his brother's office. Once he felt he could, he slowly sat back up, despite his rational side advising him against it and his injuries complaining.

As he put his fingers to his temple, he couldn't help but wonder how he was still alive. It wasn't that he doubted his brother, who had saved his skin multiple times already, but Raimundo clearly remembered the sword impaling him and couldn't figure out how he'd gotten out of the cave. It must have been the other monks, yet it didn't seem likely they could have gotten him to Marco in time. Yet there he was; alive and in pain.

"Talk about Deja Vu," he mumbled to himself, recalling his escapade to the bad side of Rio and losing consciousness only to find himself awakening in the very same room as well as other experiences.

His heart skipped a beat when he realized he didn't know if the others were alright. His memories of the events in the cave were limited, most likely because he blacked out. They didn't even get the Wu.

"Well, I'm not going to be the weak link now," Raimundo decided, pulling the covers off his legs. Upon seeing that he still wore his blood-stained pants, he muttered, "First order of business is to get some clean pants."

Tentatively getting to his feet, he tip toed quietly to the door as his common sense, and his injury, screamed for him to get back into the bed. But, being the terrible listener that he was, he ignored them. Creaking the door open slowly, he peeked his head out and looked down both ends of the hall to make sure nobody was coming. Looking to the right, he could see his fellow monks fast asleep. Undoubtedly, Kimiko found her spot on the couch due to Clay's chivalry, while he and Omi sprawled themselves out on the floor.

The leader sighed. He never meant for this to happen. Everything that could have gone wrong the night before, went terribly wrong. But he took comfort in knowing the others were all right. There was no way he could forgive himself if he let them get hurt when he could prevent it.

Raimundo turned left and entered the door immediately next to Marco's office. It hadn't always been his room, but once his family realized he would get himself in frequent trouble, they moved him closer to the medical supplies. Looking around his room, he realized that it had been used recently. He decided to think about it later and set to work on getting some clean pants. None of his stuff had been rearranged- though he could tell his mother dusted frequently- so he found what he needed quickly.

After his injuries complained again, Raimundo sat on the bed with his clean pants on. He planned to rest there for a few moments before attempting to get up again. A few still minutes passed until the door to his room suddenly opened, making the young Dragon of Wind jump and cringe before seeing Marco looking down at him in exasperation.

 _"I leave for a couple minutes to make myself some breakfast, and of course you get up and leave,_ " Marco sighed in Portuguese.

Raimundo shrugged nonchalantly,  _"That's nothing new, right?"_

 _"That's not the point, Rai. You were seriously hurt and it's a miracle you're alive. I'm stunned you're even awake right now,"_ his brother scolded.

" _Why? How long have I been out?"_ Raimundo assumed it had been a couple days, at least.

_"You've been out since yesterday."_

Blinking in surprise, Raimundo could hardly believe it himself. It seemed crazy that everything had happened just yesterday and he felt as defiant and mobile as he was, despite being below par of his normal self. Thinking about it, ever since he and the others became Xiaolin monks, they seemed to recover more quickly than normal. He had never thought much of it, since it just meant they could kick evil's butt more, as well as do more dreaded chores and training exercises.

 _"That's all? I feel like crap, but I feel too good for it to have happened yesterday,"_ he thought about his seemingly impossible state of health for another moment, recalling something Master Fung had said about chi protecting their body or something along those lines not long after the monks had been promoted to apprentices, Unforunately, Raimundo has tuned out most of what Mast Fung had said. It was likely the only explanation, however illogical it was under normal circumstances.

Marco seemed to muse his younger brother's words for a few moments before saying,  _"Let's get you back into my office and see how you're doing."_

Though he wasn't fond of the process, Raimundo knew the drill and got shakily to his feet. However, Marco decided his injured brother should not be up an about and carried him instead. The younger of the two, though he despised being cradled like an infant, didn't argue.

* * *

The news of Raimundo being awake spread through the house quickly. It was hard to tell how, but Marco suspected the quiet Miguel had something to do with it. Whatever the case, it wasn't long until everyone in the Pedrosa home piled into the office to see if the Dragon of Wind they all knew so well would be alright. Understandably, the monks stood back and let the family go first, seeing as there wasn't enough room for all of them to fit reasonably in the office. Once it was their turn to see their friend, they walked in. They were stunned to see that Raimundo was doing well considering the injuries he sustained. He sat on the examination table as Marco pressed a stethoscope to his back.

"Hey guys," Raimundo greeted.

Clay was the first to speak, and seemed the least uncomfortable about the situation, "Rai, good to see you awake, bud."

In a more shrunken and timid way than was normal for her, Kimiko asked, "So, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. That guy stabbed me pretty good though," Raimundo assured them. Despite her efforts, he noticed Kimiko looking at him with her gaze lingering on the angry scar that ran along his back, which he had gotten from a Man O' War. He'd never explained the scar; he doubted the others had ever really noticed it before.

"Oh," she replied, her eyes stubbornly avoiding his as if she were ashamed. Raimundo knit his brows, unable to comprehend why his feisty teammate was acting strange while she continued, "Good to know."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. Marco's a great doctor!"

Still unable to look her injured leader in the eye, Kimiko averted her gaze as she asked, "How badly does it hurt?"

He was silent for a few stunned moments, noticing Kimiko seemed to fear his answer. She tucked her hands close to her chest as if her guilt would spill out for all to see if she wasn't careful. Finally, Raimundo spoke with a confident smile, "It's nothing I can't handle."

The Dragon of Fire slowly removed herself from the table as she said, her gaze still landing everywhere but at Raimundo, "Okay. If there's anything you need... Just ask me, alright?"

They were all watching her leave the room when he answered uncertainly, "Okay..." Once she closed the door behind herself, Raimundo wondered, "What's up with her? She's definitely not acting normal."

Obliviously and unable to understand Kimiko to begin with, Clay and Omi both shrugged.

"Females are most strange," Omi noted.

Raimundo couldn't help but agree, "Yeah, they are."

Suddenly, Omi leaped up onto the table next to Raimundo and exclaimed, "You must recover with much haste, for I have not taught you everything I know yet!"

The younger monk most likely meant well and thought it his words were encouraging, but in reality, they did not have the impact Omi intended. Instead, Raimundo flinched back and couldn't withhold a shout of surprise. Meanwhile, almost indifferently, Marco put a hand on his younger brother's back as he wrote something down on a clipboard to keep him from falling over.

Sitting down on the table, Omi continued, "Of course, I would have known better than to let myself get injured so easily."

Grumbling and wrapping an arm around his now-aching abdomen, Raimundo sarcastically muttered, "Thanks for the encouragement."

"You are most welcome Raimundo," Omi smiled up at the Shoku warrior. Raimundo, unamused, answered by pushing Omi off the table. The short bald monk shouted as he crashed to the ground.

* * *

Just outside the door, Kimiko leaned against the wall. As much as she tried to convince herself everything was fine, she simply could not believe it. Sliding down the wall slowly and settling on the ground, she hugged her legs and fought back burning tears as she buried her face in her knee. She was Kimiko Tohomiko, daughter of the gaming tycoon, Toshiro Tohomiko. She was the tough Dragon of Fire with a volatile temper. She couldn't just break down over this, especially when everything was going to be okay. Even so, she found herself choking back sobs in her attempt to appear like a tough girl and prove to the guys she was not helpless.

But she could not lie to herself. With everything that was going on and her voice cracking with emotion, she pathetically told herself what she knew was true, "This is all my fault. Rai's hurt because of me."

Numbly, she listened to the muffled sound of the guys talking in the other room. Laughing was audible every now and again, but she couldn't figure out what they could possibly be laughing about at a time like this. She remained curled there on the floor for what felt like ages, until she heard the distinct sound of Clay's boots making their way to the door. Straightening quickly, she was positive her face was still red and her eyes puffy. There was no way she was going to let the guys see her like this. So, she leaped to her feet and quickly but quietly slipped out the door.

Once the door was securely shut behind her, she ran forward blindly. She let out a stunned gasp when she hit something solid and fell to the ground.

"Hey!" The solid object exclaimed. Kimiko looked up to see who it was and found herself looking up at Jon. Seeing it was her, his annoyed expression softened and contorted to one of concern. "Hey, are you alright?" He said with the accented English every Brazilian who know it spoke with. Kimiko vaguely remembered Raimundo once spoke with a similar accent that had slowly become less prominent, but still present.

He awkwardly held out his left hand-- his only hand-- to help her to her feet. Ignoring his outstretched hand, she stood up on her own defiantly and rubbed her eyes as she answered, "I'm fine."

"You don't look like it," Jon responded skeptically. She could see the worry spring into his eyes as he asked, "Did something happen to Rai?"

"No, no," she quickly assured him. "He should be okay. It's just that-" The words stuck in her throat as her voice failed.

"It's hard to see him like that, right?" He guessed. Kimiko hastily nodded, still trying to force words to come out of her mouth. Jon continued, "You must be really close to him. Are you two dating or something?"

"What?!" She exclaimed in surprise, her voice suddenly returning with double the volume. Waving her arms in protest, she continued, "No, no, no, no, no, no, nothing like that."

"One 'no' would have been enough."

"Sorry. It's just that it's my fault Rai is hurt, and I should have been more careful... or it should have been me. Then maybe we would have the Wu and Rai would be fine."

Jon sighed, "Look, I've known Rai for a while now, and we all know how he is. He's a reckless idiot that would have done anything to protect you. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be able to forgive himself if he let you get hurt."

"But that's how I feel!"

"And would you want him to feel guilty about it if he was in your place?"

"Well, no, I wouldn't," she lowered her gaze as she answered, understanding what he was trying to say. She sighed, "You're right. I couldn't do that to him."

Jon smiled, "Good. Now I have to get inside and talk to Marco, so I'll see you later."

As the one-armed Brazilian walked inside, Kimiko gave a small wave. She remained standing in place, lost in thought. Then, holding her chin up high with her eyes shining with fierce determination, and idea formed in her mind. As much as she would love to go on her own, her better judgment told her she'd need to swallow her pride and get the others to help her. Besides, she had no idea how to get to  _Corcovado_ on her own.

Her mind made up, Kimiko checked her face with her pocket mirror until she was satisfied the evidence of her breakdown had faded before heading back inside. The first thing she saw was Juliana, Raimundo's eight year old sister, elated to learn she was taller than Omi. Kimiko couldn't resist a snicker at the sight of Omi's expression. Clearly, the young bald monk was not amused. Meanwhile, Clay sat on the couch trying not to laugh at Omi's frustration and Dojo had wrapped himself around the American's large hat. But she didn't notice shy little Miguel peeking around the corner and watching the scene.

"Howdy Kimiko, where have you been?" Clay asked once he spotted her. Omi's quickly forgot about his lack of height when Juliana scampered away and listened to the Japanese girl.

"Nowhere really, just around," she answered vaguely. "But I do need your help."

Omi snatched up the opportunity to jump to a conclusion. "We would be happy to help you Kimiko. What is it that your frail female body cannot accomplish?"

Her face reddened in frustration and annoyance as she growled, "I'll have you know, it's something for Rai, not me."

Before Omi could respond, Clay spoke, "Which I'm reckonin' would be...?"

"I want to go get the Waters of Rejuvenation." There was a long, awkward silence.

Finally, Clay broke the awkward tension that had gathered in the air. "I'm all for roundin' up the Shen Gon Wu, Kimiko, but we were a bit outmatched last time, weren't we? And that's when there was four of us able to fight."

"We were simply unprepared for such a situation," Omi added. "Now that we know what lay before us in the cave, we will definitely be victorious!"

"Besides, we can't let that crook have the Wu. Leonan can't be up to anything good," Dojo pointed out.

"Clay, we've got to get this Shen Gon Wu as soon as possible. Rai's hurt, and this Wu can help."

"Shouldn't we be tellin' Rai what we're up to?"

"It'll be a surprise. Besides, he'd never let us go without him."

Finally, the cowboy relented, "Alright, you have a mighty fine point."

Kimiko beamed, "Great! Dojo, let's get going."

"Right, saddle up kids. It's time for round two at Corcovado mountain," Dojo announced as they prepared to take off.

Once they were out the door and flying away on an enlarged Dojo's back, Miguel scampered down the hall to Marco's office.


	6. Chapter 6

Jon was ecstatic to see Raimundo awake and in relatively good condition. He expected the monk to be unconscious and in critical condition with monitors flashing warnings and Marco running around frantically to stabilize his little brother like in all those movies. Instead, Raimundo was sitting up and recounting how they had saved the world from a strange seed, which Jon didn't quite understand.

" _So if you're the monk of Wind, what are your friends?_ " Jon asked once Raimundo's story ended with how he saved the day.

 _"The cheeseball, Omi, he's the Dragon of Water, Clay is Earth, and Kimiko is Fire,"_  Raimundo explained.

_"Kimiko's the Japanese chick, right? She's pretty hot. You think she'd go out with me?"_

Raimundo raised a brow before responding,  _"Kimiko is way too hot-headed and independent for you, trust me."_

_"She didn't seem that way when she I ran into her outside."_

" _She_ was _acting weird earlier,"_  Raimundo mused. Then, remembering Jon was planning to make move on his friend and comrade, he added,  _"But there's no way you two are getting together."_

_"Why do you care? She told me she was single."_

Raimundo could feel the heat rising to his face as he attempted to think of a way to put his thoughts into words without making it seem like he and Kimiko had a deeper interest in each other. She was a great friend, but they didn't think of each other as anything more than that. Finally, he spluttered,  _"Because I'm the leader and we need to focus on defeating evil."_  Mentally, the Shoku warrior cringed at how much he had just sounded like Omi.

 _"Right…So how has that been working out for you? The whole Sanzu leader thing, I mean?"_   Jon asked, changing the subject. He knew he hit a sensitive issue when the smooth-talking troublemaker was replaced by the stuttering kid before him.

" _Shoku,"_  Raimundo corrected, regaining his composure. " _And it's been going pretty well so far. We haven't had any '10,000 years of darkness' moments yet, just the normal Shen Gon Wu to grab. Well, as normal as Shen Gon Wu can get, anyway."_

_"What are these Shen-Gong-Whatevers you guys keep talking about anyway?"_

Raimundo opened his mouth to reply, but instead of explaining, he decided to say,"  _Dojo has all the ones we brought with us, if you want to see them."_

_"Sure, they sound cool. Especially the teapot."_

Slowly, the door creaked open and both of them looked to see why. Miguel stood hesitantly in the doorway, his dark eyes cast downwards and studying the ground.

 _"Miguel, just the man I wanted to see! Go get Dojo, the green gecko,"_   Raimundo requested.

The young boy murmured something quietly and both older boys strained to hear, but with no success. Miguel approached Raimundo and mumbled something again.

 _"Dude, you're not talking loud enough,"_   Raimundo informed him.

Miguel took a deep breath and blurted, finally loud enough to be heard,  _"Your friends left and went to Christo Redentor!"_

A few silent moments passed before Raimundo spoke, " _They took off without me?!"_

 _"Some leader,"_   Jon chuckled, which elicited a glare from the Shoku warrior.

Raimundo rose to his feet quickly and had to regain his balance before storming towards the door.

" _What do you think you're doing?"_   Jon stepped in his path. " _I may not be a doctor, but I know that you shouldn't be going anywhere like this."_

 _"They're my friends, and there's no way I'm going to let them fight some lunatic while I sit here."_ The determined Dragon of Wind pushed past Jon. The one-armed Brazilian knew his friend well enough to realize that Raimundo was not going to be convinced out of this. Nevertheless, Jon grabbed his arm to stop him.

 _"At least let me go with you,"_ Jon insisted.

 _"No, it's too dangerous,"_  Raimundo answered without a moment of hesitation.He stormed out the door and slammed it, finalizing his decision and leaving Jon staring at the door. Marco was not going to be happy about this.

Looking at Miguel, who had silently stepped into view, Jon said, " _How are we going to explain this to everyone else?"_

In response, Miguel shrugged and mumbled, " _Mom is going to pass out again."_

* * *

Kimiko was the first to jump off Dojo's back when they arrived. Without pausing, she hurried into the cave, followed by Omi, Clay, and Dojo. Curling up around Omi's head for reassurance after shrinking down to his portable size, Dojo shuddered nervously.

"I don't think this is such a good idea, guys," the dragon said, tightening his grip around Omi's large head.

"You agreed to it Dojo," Kimiko reminded.

"And it sounded like a good idea at the time," he admitted, and then added, "but not anymore."

"We know what's inside, little bud, there's no need to worry," Clay reassured him.

"Oh, yeah, sure, there's nothing to worry about. Except for the bloodthirsty lunatic inside!" Dojo reminded frantically. He added, "Also, did I mention that this cave freaks me out?"

"I reckon' you have a point, but it's no different than fightin' any other baddy."

"Did you even see what happened to last time?!"

"Yeah, but you didn't," Kimiko pointed out.

Dojo wasn't convinced, but stayed quiet when they heard a voice further ahead in the cave. A brief glance at each other, they all proceeded quietly. There was no way Leonan would get the best of them again. They all strained to hear what was being said, but after a few moments of eavesdropping, they realized it was useless without Raimundo there to translate Portuguese. However, they could recognize Leonan's voice. Although she could not understand what he was saying, Kimiko's blood boiled at the sound of his arrogant voice.

"He doesn't even care about what he did!" Kimiko seethed in a forced whisper.

"All we are here to do is get the Waters of Rejuvenation," Omi hurriedly reminded. "We must not submerge to his place."

"Sink to his level," Dojo corrected.

"That too."

"Whatever. We need that wu," Kimiko huffed.

Without waiting for anyone to say anything else, Kimiko stepped into the cavern, glaring daggers into Leonan. He sat casually next to the pedestal wiping a cloth along the blade of the Juggernaut's Sword as he spoke to himself. It wasn't until Kimiko cleared her throat and a reverberating echo followed that he noticed he had company.

Seeing them, a smug smirk spread across his face as he said, "I didn't think you'd be back. Where's your friend? Oh, wait, I suppose none of us will see him again." He chuckled darkly as if he made an amusing joke. Grinding her teeth together, Kimiko could feel her temperature rise and her skin threatening to light on fire. From the look on his face, even Clay seemed to struggle to keep Leonan's face from meeting his fist.

Before she could lash out a harsh response, Omi announced, "Surrender, or prepare to suffer a most humiliating defeat!"

Unfazed, Leonan slowly rose to his feet, sword in hand, and answered, "Because we all know how well that went for you last time. You got off lucky last time. But this time, none of you will be leaving alive."

"No, it was you who was lucky!" Omi retorted. Before Leonan could offer a quick-witted reply, Omi leaped forward and shouted, "Leopard strike!" and struck the  _os Intocáveis_ member in the chest. Leonan collided with the pedestal behind him, but caught the Waters of Rejuvenation before it could hit the ground and possibly shatter. He let out a sigh of relief and tucked the Wu underneath his arm for safekeeping.

Turning to face them as he wiped blood from his nose, he reminded, "I still have the  _Águas de Rejuvenescimento_ and all you have is a dead friend. So let's get this party started."

The attractive Brazilian gang member promptly healed himself with the Shen Gon Wu and was good as new. He gripped his sword in one hand and the Waters of Rejuvenation in the other. Challenging them with a smirk, Leonan was confident he could run the Juggernaut's Sword through another monk.

Omi gladly accepted the challenge, not that it would be very challenging. The small monk had been denied a proper fight against the Brazilian, and had no intention of backing down for any reason.

"Orb of Tornami!" The Dragon of Water exclaimed as jet of water poured out of the small orb and rushed towards the homicidal enemy.

Before anyone could get their hopes up, Leonan shouted the name of his own Shen Gon Wu and swung his weapon and parted the stream of water and was left completely dry. He teased, "Is that all you've got? I remember this being more difficult last time."

As Omi and Leonan fought, Clay suggested to Kimiko, "We may need the Wudai Orion formation for this one."

"How are we supposed to do that without Rai?" Kimiko almost choked, but reminded herself that Raimundo was alive and she had no reason to feel guilty.

"How did you do it on your own last time?"

She opened her mouth to reply, but could find no answer. There was no explanation she could think of to explain how she went into her Wudai Orion form without the rest of the group. Finally, she answered, "I have no idea."

"It would be mighty helpful if you could do it again," Clay sighed.

As much as she wondered about it herself, she forced herself to put the thought aside and focus on the task at hand. They couldn't leave Omi to fight Leonan by himself any longer. The little monk shouted out his attack forms, which Leonan had begun to ignore after the first few crazy names distracted him enough to earn him a kick to the face and a punch in the ribs.

The other two Dragons in training rejoined the fight and aided their friend. Of course, they all worked well together as they synchronized their attacks and anticipated their comrades' moves. Yet they were all painfully aware something was missing.

 _Which is exactly why we need to do this,_ they all told themselves.

Omi prepared himself with his Shimo Staff, transformed into an elaborate spear, and attacked. Kimiko quickly followed suit with her arrow sparrows, tossing them into the air making fire rain in the cave. The Big Bang Meteorang also had its part, thanks to Clay and his strong throwing arm.

Leonan focused on defending himself from Omi's spear, and managed to avoid Clay's weapons, but was struck by many arrow sparrows. Burns stinging, the Brazilian gang member began to be overpowered by the small bald monk and was unable to heal himself until he could put some distance between him and the monks.

Currently at an advantage, the three monks were invigorated with their success and kept their attacks coming in strong. Slipping up, Leonan was left with a nasty gash in his left arm that left it limb and hanging. Expecting him to drop the Waters of Rejuvenation, Omi was prepared to make a grab for it. However, the handle stayed firmly in Leonan's grasp. Taking advantage of the brief pause, the gang member retreated a fair distance and was able to use the Wu to heal himself. Rejuvenated and ready for another round, Leonan smirked.

Against the power of the three monks, Leonan was met with constant barrages of water, earth, and fire as well as kicks and punches. However, every time he was metaphorically backed into a corner, he'd heal himself and even the odds again. Sooner or later, the monks would be too worn out to continue and be backed into a corner, and their opponent knew it.

Every attempt the three of them made to take the Waters of Rejuvenation or the Juggernaut's Sword away from Leonan failed. He kept a firm grip on the sword that barred the way between the monks and their prize.

Breathing becoming labored, Clay made a desperate lunge. Leonan reacted and swung the sword at the Wudai Warrior's head. Thankfully, Clay ducked in time, and the only damage that was done had been dealt to his precious, but replaceable, hat. Before he could mourn, Leonan thrust his knee into Clay's stomach and the cowboy stumbled back a few paces to catch his breath.

After regrouping, Clay complained, "That no good varmint, this was my favorite hat."

"Clay," Kimiko scolded, "We have more important things to worry about right now."

Instead of responding, the cowboy thrust his hat back onto his head. However, the top was cut clean off and there was a clear view of his hair. If the situation hadn't had been so serious, the sight would have been comical.

"If only we could properly use the Wudai Orion formation," Omi mused, "Then perhaps we could get the Wu away from Leonan."

"But we can't, so we'll have to come up with a top-notch plan instead," Kimiko offered instead.

Omi opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a shout. " _A espada de Juggernaut!"_

The three monks had to scatter to get out of the way of Leonan's attack. Clay barely managed to avoid impalement and found Leonan's jaw in the perfect position to say hello to his fist. Of course, not wanting to prevent the two from meeting, the cowboy introduced them.

As the Waters of Rejuvenation were put to use again, the three monks realized that they would have no spare time to put together a plan. They needed a leader to put a plan in motion in the heat of the moment, but none of them could do that. They needed Raimundo.

"Maybe we shouldn't have taken off without Rai," Kimiko moaned to herself, beginning to regret hastily running into this as blindly as they had.

She didn't have long to think before Leonan charged at her. A Judilee Flip got her out harm's way and behind Leonan's back. She took the chance to kick him in the back and elicit a satisfying crack. Her success didn't last long, of course, when he used the Waters of Rejuvenation.

Leonan turned to them, "Face it, while I have the  _Águas de Rejuvenescimento,_ you can't beat me."

"We have defeated greater evil than you!" Omi exclaimed.

"That's good for you, but I'm not some great evil for you to defeat. I'm just better than you," Leonan bragged.

"You're nothing but a creep!" Kimiko shouted.

"Why, because I killed your friend?" Leonan answered.

"Really?" A new voice joined in. "I didn't know that. I hope you didn't have the funeral already."

Everyone turned to see Raimundo leaning against the wall at the entrance of the cavern. Needless to say, everyone was surprised, but Leonan looked like he had seen a ghost.

"Rai? How did you get here?" Kimiko asked, since Clay and Omi were too stunned to speak.

"Well, I was taking a bus at first, but it was faster to fly," Raimundo answered with a hint of sarcasm that made it difficult to tell if he was being serious or not.

Leonan managed to recover from the shock of seeing the Brazilian monk he had believed was dead, and exclaimed, "You? But, how is that possible? You were as good as dead!"

"Wait, you were talking about me? Last time I checked, I wasn't dead." Raimundo thought a moment before answering, "I don't quite understand it myself, but I think it has something to do with chi protecting and healing me and some weird mystical stuff. Master Fung could explain it with some of his cheesy sayings much better than I could."

Gripping his sword and preparing himself for an attack, Leonan growled threateningly, "This time, I'll make sure you die and stay dead."

Drawing his Blade of the Nebula, Raimundo replied confidently, "I don't think so."

"I don't think that's a good idea there Rai," Clay called to the Shoku Warrior.

Even when Leonan charged, shouting the name of his weapon, Raimundo did not back down. It wasn't possible for the Dragon of Wind to be healed enough for a fight, so Kimiko began to run. There was no way she would helplessly watch her friend to be impaled again. She unleashed her Arrow Sparrows on Leonan, but they did nothing to stop him. As their enemy closed in on Raimundo, she began to realize why their leader jumped in to save her the first time. At that moment, she wanted desperately to do the same.

A shrill noise escaped her mouth as Leonan ran through Raimundo, and then kept going. There was a moment of confused silence and everyone stared at the smug Dragon of Wind, completely untouched.

"Maybe I really am dead," Raimundo mused with mock astonishment. "You should try again to make sure."

Taking him up on the offer, Leonan swung his sword with all the strength he could manage. Everyone paused to watch as the blade passed through the Shoku warrior's body and embed itself in the ground.

As Leonan struggled to free the Juggernaut's Sword, Raimundo folded his arms and his brows furrowed as if he was contemplating what was causing him to be intangible.

Coming to a conclusion, Raimundo said, "Either I'm a ghost, or," there was a pause as Raimundo suddenly vanished. His voice continued, but came from the other side of the cavern, "I was using the Shadow Slicer to make a copy of myself."

All four heads turned to face Raimundo once again. Nobody could tell if it was really him, or just a clone, but they all knew he was somewhere nearby.

"Did you seriously think I would stand there and let you kill me?" Raimundo questioned. "But why don't you do it again, I'm sure it will be different this time."

Clearly furious, Leonan ripped his sword free and flicked his gaze from one monk to another. Eventually, he charged at the closest monk, Kimiko. She reacted quickly and jumped out of the way, barely avoiding the unstoppable blade. The close call reminded the three weary monks that they needed to end this fight soon.

"Is that all you can do? Charge wildly at everyone?" Raimundo questioned, further riling Leonan. "If that's all you're going to do, I'm going to make this more interesting. Shadow Slicer!"

When the Shen Gon Wu's name was called, multiple clones of all four monks filled the cavern. When they all saw Leonan's face fall in discouragement, the monks grinned mischievously. It no longer mattered how tired they were, the odds were back in their favor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, yes, I made some RaiKim ship tease. I'll admit, I am a RaiKim fan, BUT I'll keep the ship tease to a minimum, so it's all close friendship. Okay? (I don't like reading romance fics often, so I'm not gonna write one) If you want to see it as a ship, you go ahead.
> 
> I struggled to write the fight with Leonan... To be honest, it was much better in my head. Someday, I'll come back to this story and edit it again and clean up some bits that bother me. Hopefully.


	7. Chapter 7

Gritting his teeth, Leonan looked around him at the army of monks that now filled the cavern. Mentally, he reminded himself that most of them were intangible clones made by some object the 'dead' kid had. The only problem was that he could not tell which ones were real and which ones were not.

One of the Kimikos lunged at him and made a grab for the Waters of Rejuvenation, but Leonan jerked it out of reach and swung his sword through her and discovered it was just a projection.

Immediately after, an Omi and a Clay jumped at him as well. While the Brazilian gang member was distracted defending himself from the cowboy, which turned out to be another clone, the Omi's hands passed through the handle of the Waters of Rejuvenation.

Hugging the precious teapot closer, Leonan backed away, walking through many holographic clones as he discreetly headed toward the back way out of the cavern. But before he could escape, his back bumped into the real Clay. Whipping around to face the American, Leonan swung his sword but missed. Clay grinned and delivered a swift punch to the Brazilian's jaw, sending him skidding across the ground and through many clones. As he stood up, Leonan was met by a barrage of attacks from the smallest monk.

Without warning, some new voices called out in Portuguese, " _Leonan, what is going on in there?"_

Leonan responded before anyone could try to stop him,  _"Intruders! Come help me!"_

Footsteps echoed through the cave, coming closer. Raimundo silently groaned. Though the newcomers probably wouldn't be difficult to defeat, they did not need any more enemies to fight. Especially since Raimundo was not in any condition to fight, as he was painfully aware of. He was grateful for the Shadow Slicer, which he had gotten from Dojo just outside the cave, which allowed him to help out without injuring himself.

Three other  _os Intocáveis_ gang members came running into the cavern, readying their guns as they did, and gasped when they saw the army before them. However, their shock was replaced by confusion when they noticed the army consisted of the same four people multiple times.

" _Pedro, Fabio, Davi, most of them are holograms,"_  Leonan quickly explained.  _  
_

" _Oh,"_   they said in unison. After seeing teapot that could heal any injuries, holograms were not very far fetched.

Davi spoke, though none of the monks knew which was which, and said, " _Then I guess we just shoot at all of them."_

The three of them began to shoot their firearms at all the holograms, making them vanish effectively. But Raimundo was ready to replace them, hoping none of the trigger-happy men got lucky and hit one of his real teammates. So far, the monks remained unharmed.

"Omi, get their guns!" Raimundo shouted. Thankfully, the three gang members didn't seem to understand English.

Pedro fired a round into an Omi hologram that leaped boldly at him, only to be tripped by the real monk. His weapon was claimed, and the other two were swiftly disarmed as well and their guns tossed out of reach.

As Omi and Clay kept them busy, Kimiko aimed for Leonan. He desperately jumped away from a fireball she sent his way, but the fire turned out to be a hologram that caused him to jump into a real fire that Kimiko had lit behind him.

He jumped to his feet and used his Shen Gon Wu to heal his burns. Once he had done that, the Wu began to glow before he could tuck it back under his arm. He looked to see Kimiko placing a hand on the teapot.

"What is going—" Leonan began, perplexed because he had never seen it glow before.

"Leonan, I challenge you to a Xiaolin Showdown," Kimiko announced, eyes blazing with hatred for the man.

"A what?"

When Kimiko refused to explain anything to the man she hated, Raimundo explained from somewhere among the holographic images, "A Xiaolin Showdown, it's like a little competition to see who gets the  _Águas de Rejuvenescimento._ "

"I'm sure you gang types are all about a challenge, _"_ Kimiko taunted.

"Name your challenge," Leonan growled.

"It'll be a riddle game. First to get stumped loses. Our Shadow Splicer against your Juggernaut's Sword."

"What kind of challenge is that?"

"Take it or leave it. Do you accept?"

"Fine."

"Let's go, Xiaolin Showdown!" Kimiko shouted habitually.

As usual, the landscape shifted and changed all around them. Not expecting it, Leonan stumbled backwards and shouted some obscene words in Portuguese. The cavern expanded to triple its usual size and a large pedestal rose in the center with other, smaller ones accompanying it. Both competitors stood on the center pedestal, facing each other from opposite sides and shooting each other deadly glares.

Once the scenery settled, Kimiko shouted, "Gong Yi Tampai!"

"What?"

Rather than explain, Kimiko jumped right into the Showdown with her riddle. "What gets more wet the more it dries?"

Leonan was silent; but if he expected a moment of peace as he thought of the answer, he was sorely disappointed. The Dragon of Fire lunged herself at him with a kick, landing a surprise blow to his face. Rubbing his reddening cheek, he exclaimed, "Hey, I thought we were solving riddles!"

Rather than respond, she continued with a flurry of attacks. He blocked and dodged once he was expecting it, but quickly realized she was trying to distract him from solving the riddle.

"A towel," he finally answered. "What can you catch but not throw?"

He swung his sword, aiming for her head. His opponent ducked and punched his stomach before promptly answering, "A cold. Is that the best you can do?" She continued, "There are five people at a table and a pie sliced into 5 pieces. Each person has a piece of pie in front of them, yet the pie tin still has a piece of pie in it. How is this possible?"

There was a long stretch of time the riddle went unanswered. Leonan had to focus on not getting burned rather than think of an answer. The Dragon of Fire lashed out relentlessly. In an attempt to escape, the Brazilian gang member leaped from the largest pedestal to one of the smaller ones surrounding it. With that brief moment of peace, he was able to come up with an answer. "One of the people has the pie tin in front of him with his piece in it." He paused a moment to come up with his riddle. "I make up all literature, but I'm often sealed."

Kimiko paled slightly. She'd never heard this riddle before and had no idea. But with no time to dwell on her insecurity, she defended herself from Leonan's wild swings of his sword while wracking her brain for an answer.

"What's the matter? Don't know the answer?" Leonan mocked.

With her thoughts occupying her mind, Leonan was able to push Kimiko to the edge of a pedestal without her noticing. Arms whirling for balance, she saw him pull his sword back for another blow. Instead of regaining her balance, she let herself fall to avoid the blow. Nothing beneath her feet, she reached out and was able to slow her fall by grasping at the edge of a lower platform.

Before Leonan got over his confusion at her apparent suicide and saw her safely on a platform, Kimiko cast her friends a desperate glace. Rai began acting as if he were writing, and Clay was licking an imaginary object. Although the strange gestures didn't make sense to her at first, he face brightened as she realized what the answer was. By this time, her opponent had realized where she was and jumped down to where she was.

"Letters," she blurted as she jumped to a different pedestal. When the showdown didn't end, she sighed with the knowledge that she had given the correct answer. "There are twenty birds in a tree. A man shoots one of them. How many are left?"

Kimiko set out to put some distance between the two of them, but Leonan gave chase. She occasionally used the Shadow Slicer to give herself some space while he attacked the holographic projections, although the distraction never lasted very long.

"None. The other birds flew away after hearing the gunshot," he answered, causing Kimiko to quietly curse in Japanese. She was struggling to think of more riddles. He had shot at enough annoying birds to know that one. "What month do people sleep the least during?"

She jumped over a swing and sidestepped a stab before answering, "February. It's the shortest month, so there are less nights to sleep through."

Before Kimiko could say her next riddle, Leonan interrupted, "When are you going to give up?"

"I could ask you the same thing," she quipped back. "There are five hen and rooster pairs. Each pair has one baby every month. How many chickens will there be in one year?"

"This is too easy. Sixty."

"Wrong! It's impossible to tell because the babies could also have babies of their own," Kimiko corrected smugly.

"What?!" Leonan exclaimed in disbelief. He couldn't believe he hadn't considered that.

There was a flash of light as the scenery corrected itself to what it originally was. The Japanese girl stood with the three Shen Gong Wu she had just acquired by winning the showdown.

"Kimiko, you are the explosive!" Omi complimented, for once leaving out any sexist remarks. Which was a smart choice on his part.

"The bomb," Clay quickly corrected.

"That too."

With her back turned, she didn't see the angry man sneak up behind her. He did not take losing well, and looked ready to rip her head off her shoulders. If it hadn't been for Clay stepping in, he might have. The Texan tackled Leonan and effectively taught him what it was like to eat dirt. Although the gang member was strong enough to push the Dragon of Earth off of him, he wasn't prepared for the flurry of kicks and punches that Omi delivered.

Unarmed, Leonan didn't stand a chance against the monks, and a single well-placed kick from the Dragon of Water was enough to knock him out. Leonan's three comrades, who had watched the entire thing dumbfounded, were quick to turn tail and run. Unfortunately for them, they were not faster than the little bald monk and soon joined their unconscious friend on the floor.

"Great job team!" Raimundo praised, clapping his hands together. "Let's get these guys to jail and be on our way."

"Rai," Kimiko stopped him. Her stern face mirrored his mother's when she reprimanded him; if that wasn't a clear indication he was going to be chewed out, Raimundo wasn't sure what was. "You shouldn't have come. You could have gotten yourself killed!"

"I couldn't let my team run off to get the Wu without me," Raimundo argued.

"Raimundo, Kimiko has a very sound point," Omi agreed. "In your condition, you could have gotten in the way and hindered our efforts."

"Oh really? So I didn't just save your sorry cans back there?"

"I reckon you have a point, but it don't change the fact that you're hurt," Clay pointed out.

"Guys, I appreciate the concern. But I knew what I was doing," Raimundo assured them with a hint of defensiveness.

Kimiko's face was reddening slightly, but it seemed to be more than just anger. "No, I don't think you realize what you did. I thought he was going to kill you, that we were going to lose you again. You can't keep putting your life on the line like that!"

"Kim..."

"It was my fault you got hurt, so I tried to fix things. But then you showed up; I thought I messed everything up again and that we wouldn't be so lucky a second time." She wasn't even looking at him or the others anymore. Her face was contorted with the guilt she felt as she let her pent up feelings spill out. The three boys listened until Raimundo interrupted her.

"Kim, you idiot," he chuckled. She balled her fists in frustration. "It was my decision. I could have stood by helplessly, but that's not my style. There was no way I was going to lose you when I could prevent it."

"But-"

"No buts. I made my choice and that's final."

"Why you obnoxious little-"

Raimundo only laughed, "Now that's the Kimiko I know!"

Her expression softening, she commented with exasperation, "It was ridiculous of me to be concerned. What's done is done, and a reckless idiot will always be a reckless idiot."

"So are we done here? Or do you want is there anything else you want to chew me out for?" He didn't even pause before continuing, "No? Let's get going then, before these guys wake up."

"Wait just a minute," Clay stopped him. "I reckon you need to use the Waters of Rejuvenation first."

* * *

Upon Dojo's back, undulating in the air above Rio, the mystical dragon took them to the local prison where they dropped off the four gang members. The police gladly locked them behind bars.

"Glad to see you got what you came for kids," Dojo said.

"Yeah, and it's great to feel as good as new again," Rai said, holding the Waters of Rejuvenation in his hand. "Now all that's left is to head back to the temple and put these new Wu in the vault."

Dojo corrected him, "Not exactly."

"What do you mean, 'not exactly'?"

"Well, I promised Jon we'd give him a dose from the Waters of Rejuvenation once we got it."

Raimundo smacked his forehead, "I can't believe I didn't think of that!"

"That's right, he lost his arm over this thing," Kimiko remembered. "He definitely deserves it back."

"And he did lead us to the cave," Omi reminded. "It is only fair we give the favor back."

Raimundo corrected, "'Return the favor.' Are you ever going to learn?"

Not long after, they landed back at the Pedrosa home and walked inside, only to find Miguel and Jon fanning Rosa, who had fainted on the couch upon learning her injured son had wandered off.

" _Um... mom?"_  Raimundo awkwardly greeted.

Hearing his voice, Rosa immediately popped back into consciousness and was on her feet in front of him within seconds. " _Raimundo Pedrosa! Don't you ever wander off and scare me like that again, do you hear me! You are in so much trouble, young man! You're grounded for the rest of your life! You'll be working at the circus again this summer! I'll make sure you have enough chores to keep you busy until you're sixty! You are never to leave my sight for as long as you live!"_

 _"Mom... mom!"_  Raimundo interrupted before she could give him any more life sentences.

The frantic mother's expression softened and she pulled him into a tight hug, forgetting about the injuries he had and sobbed into his shoulder. " _Rai, you had me so worried. I thought you had run off never to come back, just like..."_

 _"It's alright. I miss him too,"_   he said softly, patting her back reassuringly.

" _Mrs. Pedrosa, you should be careful,"_ Jon warned, not aware that Raimundo's injuries had been healed with the Water's of Rejuvenation.

_"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't hurt you, did I?"_

"It's alright, I'm all better," Raimundo reassured them, switching to English so his friends wouldn't be confused. "This helped me out."

"Really? You got the teapot that can heal anything?" Jon asked, his interest piqued.

"The very same one," The Dragon of Wind confirmed. "We figured you deserved to have two arms."

"Seriously?" Jon could hardly believe this little teapot could actually do it. For awhile, he'd actually believed his friend was insane for collecting crazy artifacts with so-called 'mystical' powers. Despite being told the teapot was a magical artifact, he had still believed Leonan and the monks were insane.

"Oh, yeah," Dojo assured him. "And we did have a deal, remember?"

"I definitely remember."

Raimundo shouted the name of the Shen Gong Wu and tipped it over Jon's outstretched stump. Water dripped onto it, and nothing happened for a moment. Jon's heart sank for a moment, but was immediately staring in shock as his arm began to lengthen and distort in grotesque manners. He had to admit it was a sickening sight, but could not look away. Finally, he had two whole arms again. He could not contain his joy when he moved his newly-formed fingers. They responded when he wiggled them, as if they had never been gone.

"You guys are the greatest!" He exclaimed happily.

"We know," Omi responded proudly.

It took them at least half an hour to say goodbye and take to the skies on Dojo's back to return to the temple as briskly as they could. Surely, Master Fung was wondering what was taking them so long. And, boy, did they have a story for him.

* * *

Back at the temple, just a few more days later, Master Fung called the four monks into the meditation hall. Standing respectfully before their master, they waited to see what he wanted to talk to them about.

"Young monks, you've had a rather interesting adventure, haven't you?" He began.

"Oh yes, master," Omi responded.

"Raimundo has informed me that you have all shown considerable conviction. He has recommended I promote each of you to the rank of Shoku Warrior."

Omi, Kimiko, and Clay began whispering to each other before turning their attention back to Master Fung.

Slowly, Master Fun announced, "After a great deal of thought and meditation, I agree."

The three Wudai Warriors burst out into excited exclamations as their blue sashes changed into yellow ones Their robes were still the same plain red, and not the alternating red and black as Raimundo's, but that did not matter. Their leader was just as happy as they were. Being the only Shoku Warrior hadn't felt quite right without his friends being at the same level. They had began this journey together, and it was only right they travel together.

"Remember, the level of Shoku Warrior comes with a lot of responsibility. Do not take it lightly."

"Don't worry Master Fung, I'll keep them in line," Raimundo assured him. "That's what leaders do, right?"

"Yes, I am inclined to agree. I will see the four of you first thing in the morning so we can begin your training as Shoku Warriors. There is much for you to learn before you become Dragon Warriors."

After Master Fung had left them alone in the mediation hall, Raimundo said, "I'm pretty sure that translates to: We'll wake up early and work our tails off so we can kick evil butt."

"I cannot wait to see what new techniques we will learn," Omi said happily. "For evil never rests, and neither should we!"

"And I think that means we'll never get a break," Raimundo groaned.

Kimiko chuckled, "You'd think you'd get used to it by now."

"This is Rai we're talking about, he'll always be looking for ways to slack off," Clay added with a chuckle.

As the four of them talked and laughed together, Dojo slithered his way in. Vibrating more than a jackhammer, the mystical dragon held up the Shen Gong Wu scroll and informed them, "Suit up kids! We've got another one!"

With that, they set out on their first mission as a team of four Shoku Warriors. Whether or not Jack Spicer cared, he was going to know soon enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The three other gang members, Pedro, Fabio, and Davi, appeared in one of the previous chapters too. Congrats if you know where they appeared. I debated for quite a while over whether or not I wanted to put them in, but I decided to just for the heck of it.
> 
> Kimiko struggled with the Letters riddle because Japanese doesn't use letters. They're made up of characters called kanji, if you didn't know. And for the chicken question, I had to make sure the baby chickens would be old enough to have their own chicks. Chickens, on average, are able to lay eggs at six months old. Thank you Google, for helping me find some riddles. I suck at riddles, so I think most of these would have stumped me, even though they're probably not that difficult. 
> 
> This is the end. Hope I didn't disappoint too much. Like I said before, I'd like to rewrite this someday (maybe have some beta readers this time), and make it better.


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